One Piece: The Fight for Justice!
by MastaRasta
Summary: The Marines are the World Government's sea force, tasked with law enforcement, international security, and military operations when needed. They fight for peace and justice and intend on ridding the world of evil. But 'justice' is a fickle word depending on the standing point of others. This is a story of a marine that rises through the ranks to find her own style of Justice.
1. Prologue to Justice!

**Hello everyone reading this right now, the name's MastaRasta. Lately ideas of writing a Marine styled One Piece story have been clouding my mind. I have easily given into my urges and have obviously created this story to calm these said urges. Though I am not very good on writing beginnings for stories like this one, this was the best that I could come up with on such short notice. I will be accepting Oc's for the story since I doubt I would get very far without them.**

**Credit to the owners will obviously be given at the end of the chapters upon the use of said Oc's. The fill out sheet for the characters will be left at the bottom of the chapter. Now that I have said everything that I've needed to say, feel free to read and enjoy or skip past this story.**

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**Prologue to Justice!**

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It was a pleasant day on Taijamis island in the middle of South Blue. The clouds partly filled the sky and the sun was shining brightly upon the cheerful island. Its warm rays reflected through the windows of several houses and woke up several people who did not wish to be woken, including a girl who was currently using her covers to shield her eyes from the rays. When she believed that she could possibly gain a few more minutes of sleep, her hopes were soon shattered upon hearing the loud sound of chirping birds next to her window. She tossed and turned in her bed, silently cursing and grumbling for some blissful peace and quiet.

The constant torture only seemed to get worse for the poor girl once her alarm clock started to ring rather loudly than usually today. Having heard enough of all the noise, the girl let out a loud groan as she shot up from her bed, grabbed the alarm clock, and threw it against the wall. She grinned in satisfaction upon watching it smash against the wall and break into tiny pieces once it hit the floor. Her eyes perked up upon still hearing the sound of the chirping birds. A dark ominous aura surrounded the girl as she slowly turned around to face the birds, a devilish smirk slowly appearing across her face. The birds sensed the immediate danger coming from the girl and quickly took off into the sky as fast they possibly could.

The girl muttered more swears under her breath about the birds and flipped her long obsidian hair over her shoulder and blew her bangs out from over her eyes before she glanced over to the calendar hanging on the wall. She stared fixedly on the current date and snapped her fingers once she remembered that today was her big day. Today was the day that she would join the marines. She had always wanted to join the marines but her parents refused to let her join until she had turned seventeen. Luckily for her, today was her birthday and she was now ready to join the marines.

She looked over to her night stand and smiled brightly upon seeing a marine coat and hat sitting there perfectly as if they were waiting for her to wear them. She walked over to her night stand and quickly draped the marine coat over her shoulders and then proceeded to placing the hat on top of her head. Already feeling like an honorary marine, she looked over to the mirror to the far right corner of the room and thoroughly inspected herself. A small blush appeared across her face once she realized that she was still wearing her bunny pajamas under her marine coat. Immediately feeling embarrassed at her current attire, the girl scrambled into her closet and started to quickly get dressed.

"Corona! Corona! Hurry up and come down stairs to eat your breakfast!" The door slowly opened up and the girl slowly poked her head out from the closet upon hearing her name being called by a feminine voice.

"Coming mom!" Corona quickly slammed the door and finished getting dressed inside of the closet. Once she had finished getting dressed, she jumped out from the closet and landed in front of her mirror. She was now donning a standard new marine recruit uniform, consisting of a white short-sleeved shirt emblazoned with the Marine emblem, a simplified seagull with "MARINE" underneath it, on the back; a blue neckerchief, dark blue trousers, and black boots. Feeling satisfied with the marine attire, she rushed out from her room and headed downstairs.

Corona came down the stairs and immediately took a right turn, going through the living room of her house to enter the kitchen where a round table with food was currently set.

"I made your favorite breakfast today for your special day." A middle-aged woman appearing to be around in her thirties turned around to face Corona. Her obsidian colored hair reached down to her shoulders unlike Corona's but they share the same onyx eye color. She is currently wearing a purple blouse with black sleeves and a long black skirt and black sneakers.

"Wow, thanks mom! Everything looks perfect!" Corona's eyes sparkled in amazement as she stared at all of the food currently set on the round table. She licked her lips in anticipation as she stared at the bacon, eggs, waffles, and toast smeared with jelly.

"Well my little marine should get anything she wants since she's going to be protecting this island from now on." Corona's mother smiled happily as she sat down at the table alongside her daughter.

"Please don't get your hopes up mother." Corona said before she started stuffing her face with bacon and eggs. Her eyes widened and she pounded her fist against her chest once she started choking.

Her mother giggled into her hand before she poured a cup of orange juice and handed it over to her daughter to help wash the food down. "I swear, you get your eating habits from your father."

Corona chugged down the orange juice in a matter of seconds and then let out a loud sigh of relief once the food traveled down her throat and into her stomach. "Anyway, I'm nowhere near strong enough to protect this island from pirates. I'm still lacking a bit in physical strength to be honest."

"No matter, I'm sure you'll get stronger once you start your training today." Corona's mother said before a thoughtful expression suddenly appeared on her face. "Do be careful though, I heard that the training is supposed to be dangerous and life-threatening."

"I'm not afraid." Corona said before she started eating the jelly toast.

"Oh? And why is it that you're not afraid?" Corona's mother smiled in anticipation as she waited to hear her daughter's reply.

"Because true marines that fight for justice never show signs of cowardice during times of danger and peril!" Corona replied with a stern look on her face.

"That's an excellent answer. Your father would definitely be proud of you if he were here today to see you now." Corona's mother wiped away a few tears running down her face using the sleeve of her shirt.

"Please don't cry mom." Corona sweat dropped and slowly turned away to stare at the clock. Her eyes widened in horror and she shot up from her chair in panic once she realized that she was late. "Oh no! I'm late! I'm late! The welcoming ceremony is already starting!"

"Oh my! I guess you should get running then dear!" Corona's mother laughed as she waved her daughter off.

"Damn it mom! You have no idea how much trouble I'm going to be in when I get there!" Corona cried as she ran out the door and ran towards the massive marine base stationed at the center of the island. Despite living quite a distance away from the marine base, Corona knew that it wouldn't take her very long to get there since she knew several good shortcuts throughout the island.

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Meanwhile, at the 22nd Marine Branch, hundreds of new marine recruits stood inside the battlegrounds of the base at attention. They were carefully listening to the speech coming from the well respected head of the base, Marine Captain Bullock. He is a tall, slim man with brown eyes and brown hair with ponytails pointed up in a spiral resembling drills. He dons a marine coat draped over his shoulders with the word 'justice' written on the back, a black suit with a few medals pinned to it, and black shoes.

"Welcome new recruits to the 22nd Marine Branch base currently stationed in West Blue! I am proud to see the brave faces of you courageous men and women that are not afraid to fight for the sake of justice!" Bullock smiled as he stared at the new recruits. "In case some of you haven't been informed yet, I am the commanding officer of this island, Captain 'Drill Head' Bullock!"

"Sir! It's a pleasure to meet you Captain 'Drill Head' Bullock, sir!" All of the new marine recruits saluted in unison before returning to their attention stance.

"That's some excellent spirit you marines have there and I like it!" Bullock grinned. "Anyway, I know all of you are here to join the marines and fight for justice and all that nonsense." He started to pick his nose out of sheer boredom, clearly ignoring the shocked faces of the marine officers around him.

_"Is this man really a marine captain? He honestly seems kind of bored to be here right now." Quite a number of the new marine recruits thought in disgust as they watched their superior officer pick his nose in front of everyone._

"But there has to be something more to your reasoning for wanting to join the marines. Something heartwarming or traumatic that made you change the way you thought of the world." Bullock sighed as he wiped the bugger he picked out from his nose on the uniform of the marine standing behind him. Completely ignoring the sharp glare he was currently receiving from the angered marine official by his unprofessional behavior. "Like me for instance, I lost my family and everyone I loved to a group of pirates many years ago. I dedicated my entire life to training to get stronger so that I could find the pirates that killed everyone and exact revenge."

The new marine recruits gulped in shock after hearing the Captain's statement. Bullock noticed their reactions of shock and decided to keep going with his speech.

"It's not exactly the most righteous reasoning for joining the marines, but it's because of those feelings of revenge that I became as strong as I am today." Bullock stated. "This brings me to my next-"

"You there! Stop where you are! Only marines and civilians with appointments are allowed to cross through these gates!" Bullock looked up and saw the two marine guards stationed at the gates point their weapons at an oncoming person. The marine captain leaned forward and squinted his eyes in order to get a better look at the person.

"Stop or else we'll be forced to arrest you!" The second marine guard shouted as he pointed his sword at the person.

"Sorry! But I'm late for a welcoming ceremony and I can't afford to miss it today!" Corona laughed as she jumped up into the air and slammed her feet onto the marine guards' faces. She used their faces as a trampoline to leap over the closed gates and land onto the battlegrounds of the marine base. Before she had any time to react, she was immediately surrounded by several marine officers with loaded rifles aimed at her. "Whoa...uhhh...is it too late to join the welcoming ceremony? Because if it is, I could always come back later or something." She nervously laughed as she slowly raised her hands into the air.

The marines aiming the rifles at Corona exchanged confused glances with each other for a moment before another set of marines showed up from behind Corona and tied her up in ropes.

The female marine immediately started to struggle and squirm around in a useless attempt to free herself from the ropes. But the marines were well trained and versed in rope tying and knew that Corona only made the ropes tighter the more she continued struggling.

"You are under arrest for viciously assaulting two marine officers!" The marines lifted the still struggling Corona and started walking her inside of the marine base, leading her to the prison cells while several of the marine recruits tried their best to muffle their laughter.

"Wait what?! Hold on a second! You can't arrest me! I'm on your side here! I'm on your side!" Corona yelled loudly as the marines literally began to drag her into the base, her voice slowly disappearing into the distance until no one could hear her.

"Now that was surely interesting..." Bullock grinned and he bent his knees up and down repeatedly in sheer excitement like a small child. He sharply turned around to the doors behind him in preparation to leave and head over to the prison cells until a marine officer reached his arm out and grabbed his shoulder.

"Captain Bullock, you are not permitted to leave until you are finished giving your speech to the new recruits. If anyone can encourage these brave souls into fighting for the cause of justice, it is you." The marine officer said.

Captain Bullock grumbled several swears about the marine's "insubordination" and then slowly turned back around to face the new recruits who were still standing at attention. They patiently were waiting for their superior officer to continue on with his speech so that they could enter the base. The marine captain reached inside the breast pocket inside of his suit and pulled out several flash cards where he had written his speech.

"Let's see now...shit...shit...shit..." Bullock tossed aside several "useless" cards and continued on with this action until his hands were completely empty. "Was I really planning on saying shit like that?" He sighed heavily, not feeling the need to proceed any further with the speech.

"Captain! You really need to say something!" Another marine officer whispered rather harshly, honestly showing huge signs of irritation towards the Captain's antics.

Bullock stared blankly at the marine officer before he sighed in defeat and decided to finish up with his speech. Feeling "inspiration" suddenly strike him, he raised his fist above his head and violently slammed it onto the ledge of the balcony he was standing on. Several of the new marine recruits jumped in surprise upon seeing a large section of the balcony get destroyed once the Captain's fist struck it."As I was getting to earlier, I want to find out the true reason you all decided to join the marines today!"

_"That's better." The two marines standing beside him on the balcony sighed in relief._

"I'm not going to sugar coat anything for you! Your training here will back breaking and gruesome! Hell, I expect at least half of you to run home crying to your mothers!" Bullock sneered. "Those of you that wish to stay here and are prepared to become true marines! Then enter the marine base and say goodbye to the peaceful life that you once knew!" He swung his arm outwards and the doors to the base slowly began to open before everyone's eyes.

"But for those of you that have shown up here today and are not prepared to become true marines, then get the hell out of here and hope that I never have to see your cowardly face again!" Bullock pointed to the gates behind the new marine recruits and watched as the two marine guards stationed there slowly opened the gates, giving the opportunity for the recruits to leave while the offer was still on the table.

The new marine recruits stood perfectly still, not a single one of them even glanced back to see the gates open. Their stares were focused on the base in front of them, no, maybe even higher than that. Captain Bullock saw much potential in these marines and had high expectations of a selected few of them. He looked over to the marine guards stationed at the gates and gave them a slight nod, ordering them to now close the gates. The marine guards followed their superior's orders and closed the gates.

"Now that all of you have made your choice in staying here, I will personally see to it that you all regret your decision. Now step forward into the marine base. Your future of justice awaits you." Bullock cheered and then every marine followed suit and cheered as well before they all marched their way into the marine base.

"Those poor recruits have no idea what they're getting themselves into by joining this particular marine branch." One of the marines standing behind Bullock sighed while the other one nodded in agreement.

"Hmph, I gave them a chance to escape and they chose to stay here." Bullock turned around and then the two marines opened the doors for him to leave. "Now then, I'm interested in meeting the one that got arrested earlier. I think I'm going to go pay her a little visit." He stepped off from the balcony and walked towards the prison cells with his hands in his pockets.

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**And that was the prologue! I hope everyone reading this enjoyed it because there will be more where that came from! Now then, on to the fill out sheet for those who wish to submit!**

**Name-**

**Epithet-**

**Gender-**

**Age-**

**Affiliations-(Bounty Hunter, Marine, Pirate, Revolutionary, etc.)**

**Rank-(Pirate Captain, Marine Captain, etc.)**

**Justice-(What type of justice does your character, if marine, believe in? Absolute Justice? Lazy Justice? Unclear Justice?)**

**Race-(Human, Fishman, Hybrid animal, etc.)**

**Personality (Please be as descriptive as possible)-**

**Power/Abilities/Weapon of Choice-(Martial Arts, Gunslinger, Sword master, Devil Fruit, etc.)**

**Devil Fruit Name and Powers (If any)-**

**Devil Fruit Strengths-**

**Devil Fruit Weaknesses-**

**Skills-(What does your character excel at? Navigating? Sniping? Cooking? Fighting?)**

**Appearance (Please be as descriptive as possible)-**

**History-(It doesn't need to be excessively long, but don't make it extremely short either. I do enjoy a good read.)**

**Dream/Goal-(Pirate King, Fleet Admiral, Revolutionary Leader, etc.)**

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**Please Review and Enjoy!**


	2. Off to a Rough Start!

**Off to a Rough Start!**

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**South Blue: Taijamis Island; 22nd Marine Branch**

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After giving his finishing speech to all of the new marine recruits, Captain Bullock walked through the halls of his marine base and watched as all the lower ranking officers stand at attention and salute him as he walked by. He gave each and every last officer a satisfying nod as he passed by them and continued on towards the prison cells to meet the person that was arrested earlier. The captain was rather interested in meeting the said person since he found it extremely hilarious that someone would assault two marine officers in front of everyone during a welcoming speech. Upon seeing the door leading to the prison cells, he could already hear loud screams coming from the other side.

"Hmmm, I hope they're not torturing the prisoner already." Bullock muttered under his breath before he pushed the door open and stepped inside of the dark and gloomy room. He walked down the path leading further into the darkness and the loud screams continued getting louder and louder the farther down he went. He soon stopped in front of the prison cell containing Corona who was panting heavily after screaming for her immediate release from her bondage at the top of her lungs. He stared fixedly at Corona, a creepy grin slowly etching across his face which caused her to slowly inch away from the prison bars.

"So you're the person who rudely interrupted my welcoming ceremony speech a while ago? Boy, those marine guards at the gate really need to start working out more since they were defeated by such a little girl." Bullock chuckled to himself while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Come on! Let me go already! I'm here to join the marines!" Corona whined as she started struggling to break free from the ropes currently restraining her. Unfortunately for her she only managed to make the ropes even tighter on herself, causing her to start letting out sharp gasps in a desperate attempt to get air.

"It's pointless trying to break free from those ropes without properly thinking young lady." Bullock placed his forearm against the prison cell bars and leaned against it with a smug grin across his face. "I taught those marines how to tie ropes and knots such as this myself. I call it the 'Suicide Knot'. Prisoners constantly struggle to break free from this type of bondage that they end up killing themselves since the ropes only continue to get tighter and tighter." Corona gulped and ceased her struggle upon hearing the Captain's words.

"Perhaps having her kill herself would be the best form of punishment for the amount of disrespect she girl has caused upon this branch the moment she arrived." Bullock looked over to his left and heard footsteps coming towards them.

Immediately recognizing the voice, Bullock welcomed the person with a cheerful smile. "Hello there, Poindexter! I've been wondering where you disappeared off to earlier."

"Captain Bullock, how many times have I told you that it's proper marine etiquette to address your fellow officers by their title and name with the utmost amount of respect?" The man stepped out from the shadows and revealed himself alongside two other low ranking marine officers. This man was Ensign Dexter Watson, the second in command of the base if Bullock were not around to run things. Dexter is a tall, slim yet muscular man with short black hair and brown eyes. He is currently wearing thick round glasses, a marine coat with the word 'Justice' written on the back, a light blue dress shirt, dark blue pants, and black boots.

Dexter walked over to his superior officer and gave him a proper salute before he looked over to his left to see Corona leaning against the back wall of the prison cell. He reached behind his back, pulled out a file, and handed it over to Bullock. "I've brought the prisoner's file to you as you have instructed, Captain."

"Thank you, Poindexter. You've done a fine job as always." Bullock opened up the file and happily read through them while Dexter showed a facial expression of sheer anger and annoyance. After he had finished reading the files, he shut the envelope shut before he handed it back over to Dexter. "So you're name is Corona is it? You're here to join the marines?" He pulled out a set of keys and used them to open the prison cell doors.

"Yes sir, mister Drilly Head sir!" Corona nodded and then Dexter gasped in shock at the amount of disrespect that she was showing to her superior officer. Before she had time to realize her mistake, she found herself immediately pressed face first into the wall behind her by Dexter. "H-Hey! What do you think you're-"

"Silence!" Dexter ordered, his face was red in sheer anger. If there was one thing that Dexter hated in the world, it was being disrespectful. He hated many things in the world but watching someone be disrespectful infuriated him beyond all belief. "If you truly have come here to join the marines, then you should show some proper respect for those that over rank you!" He growled through his clenched teeth and then his eyes narrowed once he noticed the marine coat draped over her shoulders. Feeling even more infuriated, he released his hold on Corona and removed the marine coat from her person.

"Hey! Give that back to me!" Corona prepared to lung for the coat until the two marine officers standing behind Dexter stepped forward and crossed their blades in her path.

"First you arrive late to the welcoming ceremony, knockout two marines guards, resist arrest, and called the officer in command of this base such a foolish nickname. If these aren't immediate signs of a disrespectful marine then I don't know what is." Dexter turned his back to Corona and inspected the marine coat in his hands. "Plus I bet you had the intention to walk into the base with this marine coat on parading around as if you were the captain yourself."

"Hold on a second! I didn't mean to cause disrespect to anyone! I just wore the coat because someone important to me gave it to me as a present!" Corona stated.

"Calm down little girl. I know that you didn't mean to disrespect me or anyone else in this branch." Corona sighed in relief upon hearing those words from Bullock. But once he looked up at her, a shiver went down her spine once she stared into his now cold, piercing eyes. "But it doesn't excuse the fact that you still did." He walked over to Corona and pressed his forehead against hers.

Corona's body began to shiver, she felt an overwhelming presence coming from the Marine Captain's body. She couldn't explain why she was so afraid all of a sudden. Was it because she was still tied up? Was it because she was in the prison cell? She didn't know what was about to happen, but all she prayed for was that this feeling of fear left her soon.

"Tell me Corona, why have you decided to become a marine today?" Bullock asked.

"T-T-T-To fight for justice and to protect those I care about, s-sir." Corona stuttered.

"I already know that marine, nearly every other marine says the same thing once they first enlist. But eventually, the truth upon their enlisting is revealed one way or another." Bullock's eyes narrowed. "Why are you here marine? Did you witness the power of the marines in your childhood? Are your parents marines?"

"N-No sir...none of those things...I..." Corona shifted her eyes down onto the ground and stared at her feet. She slowly closed her eyes and started to think of her reason for joining the marines. A sudden flashback from her past appeared across her mind and the first thing she saw was an island consumed in flames. Her body eventually began to heat up and sweat as if she were feeling the burning sensation coming from the flames. An image of a cutlass sword swinging through the flames appeared next followed up by a sudden sound of blood splattering across the ground.

This snapped Corona out from her daydream and brought her back to reality. She was literally gasping and wheezing for air before her legs gave out on her, causing her to drop down onto her knees. The two marines in the prison cell exchanged worried glances with each other while Bullock and Dexter remained neutral, though Bullock seemed to be a bit disappointed that his question had not been answered.

"Is this a sign of you telling me that you don't even know the reason why you're here?" Bullock sighed in disappointment and turned his back to her. "I expected more from you, marine. How disappointing." He shook his head before he looked up at Dexter and gave him a nod, signifying for him to take over from here as he left the room.

Dexter watched his Captain leave before he walked over to Corona and stopped in front of her. "Stand to your feet marine." He ordered in a demanding tone of voice. His eyes shifted down to the ground to see Corona was still on her knees panting heavily, currently in her own little world right now. His face remained stoic while his eyebrows twitched in annoyance. "Perhaps the first time was a little too soft. I'm ordering you to stand to your feet marine!" He shouted, causing the two marines behind him to jump in surprise.

"Ensign Dexter sir, perhaps we should bring her to the clinic. She doesn't seem to be in good health." One of the marines said in a soft tone of voice, hoping that his superior officer wouldn't turn around and lash out at him.

"...Get her up on her feet." Dexter ordered and then the two marines hurried over to Corona's side and helped her up to her feet. They then carefully slid their blades against the ropes cut them to free her from the restraints. Dexter reached his arm out and used his index finger to push up on Corona's chin so that their eyes could make contact with each other.

"Let me tell you something here, marine. I do not like the fact that Captain Bullock has taken a somewhat interest in you. You're weak and you're very disrespectful. The facts that a disrespectful piece of filth like you have been brought into this base makes me begin to worry if other marines will start mimicking your disrespectful behavior." Dexter frowned.

_"Man, Dexter sure can be pretty ruthless when he wants to be." The two marines gulped in unison._

"I will personally see to it that you're discharged from the marines in the most shameful matter I can think of. From now on, I am going to make your stay here a living hell. I am going to watch you like a hawk. If you mess up even once, it will be the end for you. You will learn respect one way or another." Dexter said before he turned his back to Corona. "Take her to the female quarters. She's going to need a lot of rest for the big day tomorrow." He said before he walked out from the room, the two marines followed suit while dragging Corona along with them.

After being brought to the women's quarters, Corona walked around the room looking for a bed to rest her weary little head after everything that had happened. Every time when she got near an empty bed, a female marine would appear completely out of nowhere and take her bed. She found one last bed at the far corner of the of room and rushed for it. Before she came anywhere near the bed, someone stuck their leg out and tripped her.

She skidded across the floor and stopped in front of three sets of feet. She slowly lifted her head up from the floor to see three female marine recruits staring down at her.

"What exactly do you think you're doing?" The female marine recruit in the middle with curly blonde hair and green eyes asked while folding her arms under her considerably large breasts.

Corona pushed herself off the ground and wiped the dust off from her pants. "I'm trying to find myself a bed. That's the last available one in this entire room." She pointed to the bed behind the girls.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid that I need this bed for my bags." The blonde haired marine snobbishly said before her and the two female marines beside her tossed their bags onto the bed behind them.

"Then where am I supposed to sleep? There aren't any more beds around here." Corona sighed.

"That's not really any of my concern." The blonde haired marine sat down on the bed. "Besides, you could always sleep in the prison cells since you've already been acquainted with them." Nearly every female marine giggled at Corona.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Corona placed her hands firmly on her hips. She ignored every other girl in the room and focused her glare on the blonde haired one.

"Hmph, if you must know, my name is Harper Valentine! And you're looking at the future marine captain of this here base." Harper smugly proclaimed as she flipped her curly blonde hair over her shoulder, enjoying the happy squeals she received from other girls in the room.

"Well Harper, I would say that it's been a pleasure to meet you. But you and I both know that's a damn lie." Corona aggressively stepped forward, preparing to knock Harper off the bed until the two marines in front of her stood in the way.

"What do you think you're doing?" The female marine on the left with shoulder length red hair and green eyes asked while placing her hands firmly on her hips.

"Didn't you hear Harper tell you to back off?" The female marine on the right with black hair tied into ponytail grinned while mimicking her friend's actions.

"Tabitha. Beatrice. There's no need to get violent with this failure of a marine." Corona's eyes narrowed upon hearing the cruel words leave Harper's mouth. "I mean honestly, what kind of marine gets arrested on their first day of enlisting? I'd say you've made quite the reputation for yourself today."

"You won't last long in this base. You should just head back home with your head hung in shame." Tabitha snickered.

"I didn't come all this way to marine base just to give up and head back home." Corona balled her hands into tight fists.

"Would you look at that? I think she plans on fighting." Beatrice laughed.

"Do you honestly want to fight? Do you understand the consequences you will face if you even attempted to strike me with those savage looking hands of yours?" Harper scoffed.

Corona's eyes shifted from left to right, scanning the area around her to see several other marine recruits circled around them, expecting to see a cat fight. She wanted to do nothing more than to deck those pompous marines in their smug faces. She had been disrespected by them and didn't plan on standing there to take their shit any longer. And just when she thought about starting the fight, she remembered that Dexter had ordered her not to cause any more trouble. She then began to realize on how Bullock and Dexter must have felt after being disrespected by her.

"I don't have time for this..." Corona grumbled softly as she loosened up her fists and turned around to walk away.

"Would you look at that, yet again another person has come to realize how inferior they are to me by a mere glance of my extravagant personality." Harper and her cronies pointed and laughed at Corona as she left the room.

"I wish that girl would have attempted to fight you though. I would have loved to see you mop the floor with her." Tabitha grinned.

"Now now Tabitha, I can't waste my time fighting such a savage even if it would have taken me two seconds to put her in her place." Harper stood up on the bed and struck a pose. "Let it be known that from here on out, I will trample over anyone here that gets in my way of becoming marine captain of this base. Once I have become captain, I will rule the marines in all of South Blue with an extravagant iron fist until I am promoted to the higher ups! Once they see how powerfully extravagant I truly am, they will have no other choice but to promote me to Fleet Admiral!" She proclaimed.

* * *

Meanwhile inside of Captain Bullock's office, Bullock and Dexter stared at several screens in front of them being transmitted from hidden den den mushi's all over the base. The screens revealed several other incidents occurring around the base. Bullock pressed a button next to his desk and the screens zoomed in a bit and focused on the faces of several marines around the base that have caught his interest.

"Captain Bullock, are you sure that you want to do this? All of these marines that you've taken interest in are merely new recruits. They won't be able to handle such dangers in a matter of four short months." Dexter stated.

"Listen here Poindexter, you've been with me for several years now and you should know by now that I'm a quite the risky gambler." Bullock grinned as he stared at the faces on the screens.

"Captain Bullock, how many times must I tell you that my name is merely Dexter?" Dexter growled in sheer anger and then took a few deep breaths to control himself from doing something he might regret.

"I've made my decision..." Bullock spun around in his seat and stared at the large blackboard behind him with numbers from one to ten written across it. "For the next four months, I'm going to rank the marines on this island. Once the four months are over, the top ten marines will win a fabulous prize from me."

"Once again you have proven to me that headquarters made the right choice in-" Dexter stopped in mid-sentence once Bullock turned around to face him, his eyes started sparkling in excitement.

"Poindexter, I want you to go and make sure all the training areas around the base are up and ready for tomorrow. Our new recruits are in for a rude awakening." Bullock laughed before he turned around to face the screens once again. Dexter opened his mouth to correct his superior officer about his name once again but decided against it since he knew the Captain was never the one to really listen to other. He walked out from the room with his hands in his pockets, heading towards the training grounds to prepare for tomorrow's training sessions.

_"Okay you new recruits...I want all of you to surprise me one way or another. Each and every last one of you will help me climb the ladder back up to the top." Bullock grinned._

* * *

**Here is the second chapter; I hope you all enjoyed it. I introduced a few new characters that will be of more importance later on in the story, and I plan on revealing a bunch of new characters in the next chapter. Sorry that there couldn't be as much action as I wanted there to be but I still need a bit more time to create several other marine characters for this particular base. I promise though the next chapter will be more action packed, so look forward to that.**

**Anyway, Please Review and Enjoy!**


	3. The Training and Ranking Begin!

**The Training and Ranking Begin!**

* * *

**South Blue: Taijamis Island; 22nd Marine Branch**

* * *

"Would you look at the time, Poindexter? It's already 5 A.M. and the new recruits aren't even awake yet." Marine Captain Bullock was currently standing on the roof of the marine base, enjoying the cool early morning breeze alongside his second in commanding officer, Ensign Dexter.

"Should we proceed to waking them up then? It would be a shame if the new recruits missed out on watching the early morning sun rise like everyone else." Dexter grinned.

"Yeah, let's wake up the future of the marines. They should get use to being woken up bright and early from now on." Bullock looked over his shoulder and nodded to Dexter, giving him the go ahead to wake up the others.

Dexter nodded and then reached behind his back to pull out a small den den mushi. "Go ahead and wake up the recruits. They have quite a day ahead of them." He spoke into the den den mushi.

"Right away, sir." A masculine voice said before Dexter hung up the den den mushi and patiently waited for the new recruits alongside his Captain.

* * *

Inside of the of the female quarters of the base, all of the marine recruits were sleeping peacefully in their soft and comfortable beds. Except for Corona that is, who was currently sleeping on the hard, cold floor. Her left eye slowly opened upon hearing the sound of a creaking door opening up followed by a set of heavy foot steps. She rolled over onto her stomach and looked up to see a rather large, rounded bald man in uniform standing in front of her with his arms behind his back.

The man standing in front of her is Warrant Officer Patrick Stanza. He squatted down a bit and stared into Corona's eyes with a rather neutral looking expression on his face which kind of freaked her out at the moment. Thinking that he was some sort of perfect, she opened her mouth to scream in order to wake up the others but was quickly silenced once Patrick slapped his hand over her mouth.

"Be quiet there little lady. I don't want you having the pleasure of waking up everyone else on their first day. This is kind of my specialty." Patrick winked at her as he opened up his free hand to reveal a small match. He quickly rubbed the match against the ground to spark a flame and then tossed it onto the middle of the floor.

Corona scooted away from Patrick and then looked over to the lit match. "What are you trying to do? Burn the entire base down to the ground?" She whispered.

"Nah, I don't have nearly enough matches to do something as crazy as that." Patrick said before he pointed to the rising smoke heading its way up to the smoke detectors on the ceiling. Once the smoke had reached the detectors, loud beeping sounds echoed throughout the room which activated the sprinkles to start spraying water all over the room.

All of the female marine recruits jumped out from their beds upon feeling the cold sensation of the water touching their skin. Corona and Patrick pointed and laughed at the female marines that ran around the room screaming in utter shock and panic. Once the sprinkles had finally stopped spraying the water, some of the female marines slowly turned around and fiercely scowled at them.

"It's nice to see that you're all finally awake and alert now! I am Warrant Officer Patrick Stanza!" Patrick said in a professional manner while standing up straight. "I have been given orders to inform all of you that Captain Bullock and Ensign Dexter are requesting your presence at the battlegrounds this moment! So get moving this instant!" He ordered and then several of the female marine recruits groaned and started walking out from the room.

"Men these days sure do have vulgar ways of doing things." Corona and Patrick turned around to see Harper ringing the water out from her hair using her hands. "Do you even know how to properly awake such a beautiful woman as myself?"

"Hmph, if I did then maybe my wife would have stayed with me." Patrick laughed before he turned around left the room so that he could head over to the male quarters and wake them up for their day.

"Out of the higher ups I've met so far, I think I like him the best." Corona muttered before she turned around to face Harper who was currently being pampered by her cronies Beatrice and Tabitha.

"Goodness! That man has some nerve getting your hair all wet like that!" Beatrice puffed her cheeks while blow drying Harper's hair.

"You should really teach that old pervert a lesson and make him kneel before you!" Tabitha suggested drying off Harper's clothes with another blow dryer.

"All in due time my loyal subjects, all in due time. We cannot rush such harsh actions since they will be seen as insubordination to the higher ups." Harper sighed as she raised her arm up and snapped her fingers, causing Beatrice and Tabitha to immediately drop the hair dryers and reach for the combs. She then nodded to her cronies, giving them to go ahead to start combing out her hair, which they then proceeded to do so. "Once I become the Captain, I will personally see to it that man is demoted to the lowest possible rank. And after that has been accomplished, I will create an even lower rank and demote him again!"

"Brilliant idea, Harper! We can't wait for you to become Captain!" Beatrice and Tabitha squealed in delight as they started to curl Harper's hair once it had been completely combed out.

"This marine branch and all of South Blue would be in critical danger if someone like you were to become the Captain." Corona sighed and rolled her eyes in annoyance.

Beatrice and Tabitha gasped in shock upon hearing Corona's words. They dropped their combs and prepared to confront Corona about her outburst until Harper placed her hands on their shoulders. She gently pushed them aside and walked over to Corona, stopping a few inches in front of her with a scowl across her face.

"What did you just say?" Harper asked with a hint of anger could be heard in her voice.

"Do you have trouble hearing? I said that if someone like you were to become the Captain, this branch and all of South Blue would be in critical danger." Corona said a bit louder.

"That's exactly what I thought you said." Harper smugly grinned as she flipped her curly hair over her shoulder and proceeded to walking past Corona with Beatrice and Tabitha soon following. "Let it be known that you have now made yourself an enemy to the future of the marines." She and her cronies laughed as they left the room and headed for the battlegrounds.

"God I do not like her!" Corona growled through her clenched teeth as she walked out from the room and headed over to the battlegrounds as well. Once she made it over to the battlegrounds, she joined the other marine recruits in line and patiently waited for Captain Bullock to start speaking.

"And that's all of them." Dexter pressed the stop button on the stop watch he was currently holding and stared at the time. He shook his head in disappointment before he showed it to Bullock who also shook his head in disappointment after seeing the time for himself.

"Would you look at that...it took everyone exactly fifty five minutes and forty nine seconds to gather here today." A small frown appeared across Bullock's face as his eyes darted to every single marine recruit. He disappeared from his spot and appeared in front of the marine recruits, causing most of them to jump in surprise at his speed. "Punctuality is one thing I value with utmost importance in this base. From now on, I expect every last one of you to show up here upon being summoned in thirty minutes or less!"

"Failure to do so will result in immediate punishment!" Dexter added before he disappeared and reappeared behind his superior officer. "Now all of you need to listen up and listen up good! We are going to explain how things are going to be for all of you for the next four months!" He stepped aside and then Patrick walked by carrying a large bulletin with several wanted posters and help wanted signs on it.

"Consider this to be the assignment board for this branch! On this board are several old and new wanted posters as well as mission forms!" Bullock grabbed a wanted poster and a mission form.

"In case some of you haven't been informed yet, this is a wanted poster. Posters like these are given out to the public to notify them of the dangers of notorious criminals around the world." Dexter informed the recruits before he placed the wanted poster back onto the bulletin board. "This is a mission form, we marines accept missions around the South Blue in order to spread around peace and justice."

"Oh I understand." Bullock, Dexter, and Patrick looked over to Harper who had spoken up. "From now on you want us to start bounty hunting and clearing missions right?"

"Technically." Bullock replied. "For the next four months I am going to rank the top ten marine recruits of this here base. Those that are on the top ten will receive a special prize from me."

"A special prize?" Most of the recruits muttered in unison while looking around.

"Excuse me, Captain Bullock." Harper raised her hand into the air. "Can you please explain to me then why you decided to show us the wanted poster and mission forms?"

"Consider the wanted posters and mission forms to be bonus points for the ranking. If you recruits truly desire to reach the top ten, then all you need to do is complete these objectives." Bullock explained.

"Capturing pirates and completing missions is mere child's play for someone as extravagant as me!" Harper flipped her hair smugly. "You might as well have my name in the number one spot!"

"I'm not going to rank anyone yet since I haven't seen what you all can do." Bullock chuckled softly while shaking his head.

"Then go ahead and hand me the toughest mission and highest wanted poster on that board. I'll take care of them both in no time at all." Harper placed one hand on her hip and held her other hand out, patiently waiting for Bullock or Dexter to hand over the wanted poster and mission form.

"Sorry little lady, but you're nowhere near ready for someone like this." Patrick grabbed a wanted poster off the board and showed it to everyone in front of him.

**Wanted Dead or Alive "The Sword King" Bradley 60,000,000 Beli**

"That's the highest bounty on the board? He doesn't look so tough." Harper eyed the wanted poster carefully.

"Are you crazy? A 60 million beli bounty is way too high for a recruit to handle!" Corona spoke up.

"He may be too much to handle for you! But Harper here can take down any pirate she damn well pleases!" Tabitha boasted.

"Whether that's true or not, none of you can accept bounty hunting missions like this because these missions are for senior marines of the base." Dexter said.

"And you're also not allowed to accept any type of mission without permission from either me or Poindexter. And you cannot go on any mission without supervision from senior marines." Bullock added.

"How disappointing..." Harper sighed.

"Now that we've got that out of the way! It's time to start off the day with some training!" Bullock clapped his hands together, a wide grin growing across his face. "Let's start off with a simple obstacle course around the base."

"You recruits are going to race around the base! There are several traps and obstacles waiting for you!" Dexter informed the recruits.

"Now hurry and line up everyone!" Bullock ordered and then the recruits looked over to the left where they saw a white line with the word 'start' written by it in the dirt. They quickly lined up behind the line and the recruits in front got down in running positions, waiting patiently for someone to tell them to go.

"On your marks! Get set! Go!" Patrick fired a shot into the air and then all of the marine recruits charged forward at full speed, preparing to get through the obstacle before the other.

Most of the marines pushed and shoved one another out of the way at the start of the race, instantly causing Bullock, Dexter, and Patrick to shake their heads in disappointment. Some of the ones still standing including Corona stopped in their tracks and took the time to help some of their fallen comrades. The others including Harper, Beatrice, and Tabitha all focused on the objective at hand and continued on with the obstacle course. Once Corona and the other recruits had made sure that the fallen marines were now on their feet, they continued on with the obstacle course as well.

"We have an interesting group of marines here so far, Captain." Patrick noted as he folded his arms over his chest. "Some of the recruits chose the objective over their comrades while the others chose their comrades over the objective."

"Both are crucial in the marines. But the problem is choosing the right time between choosing your objective over your comrade or vice versa." Bullock grinned.

The marines that stormed on ahead reached the wall around the base and made a sharp turn, so far none of them had not come across any obstacle course. Most of them began to worry since everything was going far too well. Suddenly holes opened up in the ground beneath their feet, causing a large number of them to plummet to the bottom with a loud crash. Upon watching most of their comrades fall into the holes, the recruits skidded to a stop before they ended up just like the rest.

"Trap holes in the ground? Honestly, what else kind of childish pranks have these marines come up with next?" Harper sighed before her eyes darted towards the empty space in front of her. After taking a few moments to figure things out, Harper proceeded on with the obstacle course with ease.

"Go Harper!" Beatrice and Tabitha squealed happily as they followed after their leader.

"How is she avoiding all of the trap holes so easily?" Some of the marine recruits exchanged confused looks before they shrugged their shoulders and took a step forward. Unfortunately for them, larger trap holes opened up beneath their feet and sent a large majority of them plummeting to the ground.

"Oh come on!" Corona sighed in irritation once she and her group of recruits entered the trap hole area. She leaned forward and stared at the unconscious marines down in the hole. Feeling the need to help them, she looked around the area for something that would help her get down into the hole and get them out. She called out to the recruits behind her to help her but they all continued on ahead with the course.

"Don't waste your time stopping to save everyone! You'll never complete the obstacle course like that!" Corona looked over her shoulder to see a small child with red spiky hair and emerald colored eyes in the standard marine recruit uniform on smiling at her.

"But I can't just leave them like that though. Haven't you ever heard the phrase, 'no man gets left behind'?" Corona asked while staring at the small child.

"I understand that, but it is their fault for not being careful and all." The small child walked over to Corona and then pointed ahead to the other recruits falling into the trap holes around the area. "Take a look at all those traps. Do you plan on stopping to save all of the others?"

Corona sweat dropped at the sight of all the recruits falling into the trap holes. Mentally taking note on how long it could take her to save everyone, she decided to ignore those that needed help on this side of the base. She stood to her feet, looked down to the small child, and gave him a slight nod of the head.

"Alright, let's continue on with th-" The small child took a step forward and instantly fell down into one of the trap holes, much to Corona's annoyance and surprise.

"I guess I should thank you for falling into that trap there since it would've been me if I had taken that step." Corona nervously laughed as she leaned forward to see the small child's body twitching at the bottom of the hole.

The small child shook off the pain from the fall and sat up while rubbing the back of his neck. He shook his head to get all the dirt out from his hair before he looked up at Corona. "Hey there! Are you just going to stand there? Help me get out of this hole!"

"Weren't you telling me to not waste my time rescuing everyone?" A sly grin appeared across Corona's face as she turned her back to him. "Sorry, but I think I should get moving now."

"H-Hold on a second! You don't have to save everyone else, but the least you could do is save me! You can't leave a poor, defenseless child down here in a dark hole like this all by himself!" The small child whined.

Corona folded her arms under her chest and took a moment to think. She looked around the area around her to see the other recruits were getting farther and farther away from her. She looked down the hole the child fell down to see that his eyes were opened wide and his lips were quivering, causing a small blush to appear across her face. _"Not the puppy dog pout! I can't resist such cute expressions like that!" She cupped her cheeks and then shook her head a few times to make the blush on her face go away. _

"Okay, okay, I will help you. But you're going to have to help me out if something like this happens elsewhere during the obstacle course." Corona laid down on her stomach, leaned over the edge, and extended her arm out to the small child.

"No problem! You've got yourself a deal!" The small child jumped up and grabbed hold of Corona's arm so that he could get pulled out from the hole. "Thanks for the help. My name is Jord by the way. Jord Ganseki."

"My name's Corona. It's nice to meet you Jord." Corona smiled.

Meanwhile on the other side of the base, Harper continued to run through the empty area in front of her followed up by Beatrice and Tabitha who continued to cheer her on. Thinking that things would be easier from now on, she was momentarily caught off guard once a cutout board shot up from the ground in front of her and nearly smacked her dead in the face. Reacting on instinct, she immediately leaned back while swinging her right leg upward in order to kick the cutout board's head straight off. Once she had gotten a clearer look at the cutout board, she halted her foot inches away from the cutout board's face.

"Harper! Harper! Are you okay? Why did you suddenly stop running?" Beatrice and Tabitha panted heavily once they had finally reached their leader.

"Looks like we've downgraded from trap holes to cutout boards now." Harper replied as she stared at the cutout board of a woman holding onto her child.

"What do they expect us to do with simple cutout boards?" Tabitha asked while Harper walked past the cutout board and stared aimlessly at the empty space ahead of her.

"What should we do Harper? How do we proceed from here?" Beatrice asked.

"It's quite simple really." Harper stepped forward and grinned once another cutout board shot out from the ground and headed straight for her face once again. She extended her arm forward and managed to punch the cutout board's head clean off.

"Harper?" Beatrice and Tabitha gasped in shock upon seeing the cutout board's face fly into the air and then fall flat onto the ground. They walked over to see that the cutout board's face was that belonging to an ugly pirate.

"Take out the cutout boards belonging to the enemy and keep the civilians intact." Harper replied before she sprinted off again.

"That's our Harper! She's so smart!" Beatrice and Tabitha smiled as they blindly followed after their leader once again.

"I'm so disappointed! I expected so much more out of this obstacle course!" Harper ran through the field, avoiding the innocent civilians and taking down some of the criminal cutout boards that shot up in front of her. The recruits behind her noticed her actions and proceeded to do the same.

Once Corona and Jord had entered the area with the cutout boards, they stopped in their tracks to inspect all the damage with puzzled expressions on their faces. It was hard enough for them to get through the trap hole area, but now they were stuck on what to do for this area. They took their time stepping forward, trying to make sure that there weren't anymore trap holes in the area.

"What's up with all cutout boards?" Corona asked as she looked over to the small child. "Jord? Do you have any ideas?"

"Maybe it's like a target practice part of the obstacle course." Jord replied as he noticed nearly all of the cutout boards on the ground were pictures of criminals and pirates.

"Looks like everyone else has already completed this part of the obstacle course. We need to hurry up and catch up to everyone." Corona took another step forward and then several cutout boards of pirates had shot out from the ground and surrounded her. She reacted quickly to this predicament by striking each of the cutout boards with fierce punches to their faces.

"Sweet!" Jord's eyes sparkled in amazement upon seeing chunks and pieces that were punched out from the cutout boards get sent flying out.

"That nearly scared the life out of me." Corona panted as she watched the cutout board's that surrounded her make their way back into the ground. "I think these things are motion activated."

"It's not like we have to worry about anything during this course. They're only cutout boards. So the most they can do is scare us." Jord laughed as he continued to run on ahead of Corona.

"Wait Jord!" Corona followed quickly after the young boy just in case he accidentally activated more cutout boards. Once the two of them had crossed a certain area, several more cutout boards popped up from the ground and started circling around them.

"Whoa! What's going on here? Why are they moving more freely than cutout boards usually should?" Jord sweat dropped as him and Corona stood back to back, preparing for anything that was bound to happen next.

"I'm really beginning to hate this obstacle course!" Corona whined until the cutout boards suddenly stopped moving. The cutouts of pirates suddenly started to ram against the civilian cutouts, knocking them onto the ground.

"This is getting weird. Now the cutouts are attacking themselves for us?" Jord sweat dropped at the strange behavior of the cutout boards.

"Are the both of you just going to stand there?" Corona and Jord looked over to the marine base to see a den den mushi staring at them. "The pirates are attacking innocent civilians. You marines should do something before they're all brutally slaughtered."

"Brutally slaughtered?" Jord looked around as the pirate cutouts continued to ram into the civilian cutouts. "It's really hard to consider something like this slaughtering."

"It's not good to have that kind of attitude, Jord." Corona told him before she sprung into action and started taking down the pirate cutout boards. Though it did seem ridiculous to be fighting mere cutout boards, Corona planned on taking this entire obstacle course seriously. Maybe if she put much dedication into completing this course the right way she would find herself on the top ten board.

"Guess I should help out as well." Jord grinned as he started taking down the pirate cutout boards as well.

* * *

On the roof of the marine base, Bullock, Dexter, and Patrick were sitting on the ledge of the base, watching in excitement at everything that was currently unfolding during the obstacle course.

"That Harper Valentine has been leading the other recruits through the obstacle course the entire time." Dexter stated.

"It's rather disappointing. We can't see what the other recruits are truly made of because most of them are blindly following her." Patrick sighed.

"It's all fine to me...I'm finding out several things about several interesting recruits so far." Bullock grinned.

"The majority of the recruits are coming towards the third obstacle, Captain." Dexter informed him.

"The third obstacle? Which one was that one again?" Bullock asked as he stared scratching the back of his head while trying to remember.

"The Execution Firing Squad." Dexter and Patrick replied in unison.

"Oh right! Those guys! This should be truly exciting to see!" Bullock stood to his feet and started jumping around in anticipation of what was to come soon.

"If it's anything like it was last year, then it's going to be a disaster." Dexter and Patrick's face paled in unison.

* * *

"Okay men, get ready! The recruits are going to come running across that corner soon and I want all of you to shoot to kill!" A group of marines wearing executioner masks stood in attention while holding rifles in their hands. The man currently talking to them was Captain of the Execution Firing Squad, Carter Brooks. He is a tall, slim dark skinned man who is wearing the standard marine uniform except for the fact that he was wearing the executioner mask over his face like the rest of his squad. "I don't want any of you to hesitate just because you'll be shooting your future comrades today! I want all of you to aim for their vitals and take the shot once you have it!"

"Captain Carter sir! Are you sure that's a good idea? What if the same mistake happens like last year?" One of the firing squad marines asked and then Carter's face paled upon remembering the mistake which was made.

"L-Listen...the same mistake will not be made twice!" Carter nervously laughed before he looked ahead to see the stampede of marine recruits charging towards them.

"Captain Carter! The recruits are heading this way!" Another member of the firing squad notified him while pointing ahead.

"Thank you Captain obvious! Stop wasting time and shoot all of them down!" Carter ordered and then all of members of the firing squad got down on one knee and raised their sniper rifle scoops up to their eyes, steadily taking aim at their targets.

"An Execution squad?" Harper's eyes narrowed upon seeing the marine pointing and aiming their guns at her and the recruits behind her. "Now this is a little more interesting." A sly grin appeared across her face, feeling a bit excited that something interesting was finally about to happen.

Once the entire Execution Firing Squad had taken aim and chose their intended targets, they quickly pulled their fingers back on the trigger of their guns and open fired on the recruits. Being as quick and agile as she was, Harper jumped from right to left while continuing on with her charge for the finish line, easily managing to avoid all of the bullets flying towards her. Unfortunately some of the recruits behind her weren't so agile as nearly all of them were shot by the bullets and instantly collapsed onto the ground. Harper spun around and her eyes widened upon seeing blood on the clothes of those who had been shot.

"They're using real bullets against us? Are they insane?" Beatrice and Tabitha panicked while the recruits that had been shot all started writhing in pain on the ground.

"I didn't know that this was the infamous G-5 Marine base! I've never seen other marines shoot down one of their own!" Harper growled through her clenched teeth while balling her hands into tight fists. She inhaled deeply and then quickly exhaled before she dashed straight towards the Execution Firing Squad, shocking Beatrice and Tabitha.

"Fire! Don't let her get anywhere close!" Carter ordered and then the Execution Firing Squad open fired once again, aiming directly for Harper vitals. His eyes narrowed upon seeing Harper avoid being shot once again. _"She's definitely awakened it...what an interesting marine we've got here."_

"She's avoiding all of the bullets Captain! What should we do now?" A member of the Execution Firing Squad asked in a worried tone as Harper only seemed to get closer and closer to them.

"Our orders were to slow down the recruits and not to make any physical contact with them what so ever. So we're just going to have to use our routine tactic." Carter smirked as all of the Execution Firing Squad members started to line up.

"What's this?" Harper skidded to a stop and sweat dropped at the strange behavior at the firing squad.

"Ready men? Get set! And retreat!" Carter yelled and then one by one all of the Execution Firing Squad members started jumping backwards into the large hole behind them.

"Wait!" Harper rushed over to hole and stared down into it, showing an immediate expression of shock when she saw that it was deeper than she thought when there nothing but pitch darkness.

"Harper! Are you okay?" Beatrice and Tabitha rushed over to Harper and knelt down next to her.

"What the hell is wrong with this base? Why did those marines just shoot down those recruits down during an obstacle course?" Harper slowly turned around and looked up to glare at Bullock, Dexter, and Patrick who were all staring down at them. "And why are they simply standing there doing nothing? Did they order this?"

"Hey! Hey! Are you okay man?" Several marine recruits checked up on their fallen comrades and then gasped in shock upon seeing most of them sit up from the ground. The recruits that were shot placed their fingers on the red liquid on their shirts and quickly realized that it wasn't blood, but rather it was tomato sauce.

"Tomato sauce?" The recruits were strictly puzzled by the firing squad's actions. Harper, Beatrice, Tabitha and several other recruits face faulted upon seeing that it was tomato sauce and not blood on their comrades' clothes. Using the moments distraction to her advantage, Harper suddenly took off to continue the rest of obstacle course.

"Hey!" The recruits realized that they were still in the midst of the obstacle course and chased after Harper in order to get ahead of her.

While the most of the recruits had finished that section of the obstacle course, Corona and Jord eventually made their way into the area and stopped dead in their tracks upon seeing recruits on the ground covered in tomato sauce, thinking it was blood. They slowly walked over their fallen comrades and inspected nearly all of them.

"Wonder what happened here." Jord crossed his arms while Corona continued to inspect the fallen recruits. She pressed her fingers against the tomato sauce and brought it up to her nose. She sniffed her fingers for a moment before she licked it off her fingers, causing a look of disgust to appear across the child's face.

"Tomato sauce?" Corona muttered and then looked around the area. "Were they all hit with tomatoes or something?"

"If they want us to consider this a real life situation, then these recruits are dead." Jord said.

"You're right...they've all been hit in vital areas." Corona nodded in agreement.

"We're really beginning to lag behind the rest of the group though. We should really pick up the pace." Jord stated while pointing ahead.

"Right. Could you give me a second please?" Corona nodded before she clapped her hands together and bowed her head to pray for her 'fallen' comrades. After she was done praying, her and Jord continued on with the obstacle course to catch up with the rest of the recruits.

* * *

"Nearly done, just a bit more and I'm through with this course!" Harper panted as she continued to dash for the finish line of the obstacle course. She looked over her shoulder to see that only a few recruits were still behind her and slowly gaining. Wanting to prove her superiority to everyone, she suddenly began to run faster, leaving a large trail of dust clouds behind for the recruits to eat.

The recruits behind her gasped in shock at the dust clouds and immediately crossed their arms over their faces to protect themselves from getting any of it into their eyes. Harper felt as confident as ever and mentally started counting down the number of feet away she was from winning. Five feet, four feet, three, two...victory was sure to be hers and she was only seconds away from reaching the finish line first. That was until a large hole opened up behind the finish line with several recruits climbing their way out from it.

Harper's jaw dropped to the ground before she lost her footing and fell. Her torment didn't stop there because the recruits behind her soon trampled over her and crossed the finish line. Beatrice and Tabitha rushed over to her and picked her back up onto her feet, checking to make sure that she was okay.

"W-What just happened? Where did those other recruits come from?" Harper was completely dumbfounded on how fast things had occurred. Victory was literally in the palm of her hands until fate decided to suddenly screw her.

"It looks like there must have been some kind of underground tunnel." Beatrice gave her input on the situation.

"Those recruits were the ones that fell into trap holes earlier." Tabitha stated.

"No matter, I underestimated this obstacle course. I won't make the same mistake again." Harper sighed as she crossed the finish line alongside Beatrice and Tabitha.

"Congratulations those of you that have made it through the finish line." Bullock, Dexter, and Patrick gave all the recruits a round of applause while the recruits seemed to be entirely exhausted.

"We can now move on to the n-" Dexter stopped in mid-sentence once he looked ahead to see Corona and Jord running towards them.

"Hold on a second! Don't start without us!" Corona panted as she and Jord had finally crossed the finish line.

"Hmph, figures that you and some child would come dead last in the obstacle course. Though I figured that you would have fallen in the trap holes and stayed down for good." Harper sighed in disappointment upon seeing Corona.

"I...I don't care much in what place I came in...I'm just glad that I managed to finish." Corona and Jord sat down onto the ground and tried to use the opportunity to catch their breaths.

"A typical response for someone who doesn't even understand the meaning of this obstacle course." Harper and her cronies pointed and laughed at Corona.

A small glint appeared in Bullock's eyes upon hearing Harper's comment. He appeared in front of the laughing girl and leaned in to gaze into her eyes, ignoring the fact that she was completely creeped out on how close he was. "You think you know the meaning of the obstacle course? Please tell me Harper Valentine. What was the purpose of this obstacle course?"

"O-Obviously you were testing us on our attributes such as strength, speed, intelligence, and things like that." Harper nervously replied. "It's the only logical choice since you're going to start ranking us from now on."

"You're only twenty five percent right there, marine." Bullock turned his back to Harper, the sleeves of his coat slapped her right in the face. "The true purpose of this obstacle course was to see what kind of marines you would turn out to be in the future."

"How would an obstacle course race help you find out what kind of marines we'll be?" Corona asked.

"Consider this obstacle course to be a mission. The main objective was to reach the finish line as soon as possible, it sure does sound easy at first until unpredictable things happen." Patrick smirked. The recruits all exchanged glances with each other as they all started remembering all the traps they encountered throughout the course.

"The overall grade for you recruits is that you all pass and fail the course." Dexter informed them, only to receive loud moans and groans coming from the puzzled recruits.

"Pass and fail? How does that work?" Harper folded her arms under her chest and scowled, obviously not too pleased with the results after all the work she had to do to finish the race.

"Let's list the things that made most of you pass first..." Dexter adjusted his glasses before he continued to speak. "During the obstacle course, most of you made sure that nothing got in your way of completing the course. You fought your way through the obstacles no matter what they were and emerged successful."

"But, it's because of that quality you fail as well. Once the race had begun, you instantly shoved your allies to the ground so that only you could receive the glory of completing it. And during the trap hole area, you ignored your allies in the holes and left them to fend for themselves." Patrick added.

"Now onto the ones that lagged behind the race most of the time." Bullock looked over to Corona and Jord. "You pass because you showed compassion and you cared for your allies during the course. You helped most of them out from the holes, you made sure that you took down all the pirates that attacked the civilians in the cutout board area unlike the others, and you also took the time to pray for your fallen comrades."

"But it's because of that quality you fail as well. Because you showed much care and compassion during the course, it took you the longest to complete it." Dexter stated.

"This is very confusing." Jord sweat dropped while rubbing the back of his head.

"Excellent, you all should be confused so that you can take the time to rethink your actions today. Because in the marines, you'll have to make tough and confusing choices sometimes." Patrick said.

"Will you choose your mission over your comrades or your comrades over your mission?" Dexter asked. "Questions like these determine what kind of marine you will be in the future and what kind of justice you will believe in."

"Which type of marine is more valuable though?" Corona asked.

"We cannot make that choice for any of you. It's up to you to decide." Bullock replied. "But I consider both types of marines to be very important and essential."

"Now that everyone has completed the obstacle course, let's move on to combat training." Dexter looked over his shoulder to see several marine officers walking out from the base carrying various weapons.

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**And that's all for this chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it. ****The Oc Jord Ganseki belongs to Dthehalfdragon.**

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**Please Review and Enjoy!**


	4. Combat Training!

**Combat Training!**

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**South Blue: Taijamis Island; 22nd Marine Branch**

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"Combat training? We're not going to get some time to rest?" Corona's eyes widened in horror upon seeing a few senior marine soldiers walk out from the marine base while pushing along a few weapon racks. After barely even managing to get through a rather bizarre obstacle course, she had expected to be able to rest up for a few hours or so. And she wasn't the only marine that was now exhausted. Several moans and groans of exhaustion escaped from the mouths of other recruits around her.

"Quit all your complaining this instant!" Ensign Dexter shouted and then all the marine recruits straightened up and stood at attention. They were easily being influenced by Dexter's superior aura.

"I know that all of you are tired and exhausted now, but you need to work on your strength and endurance." Captain Bullock said kindly to his exhausted recruits as the marine soldiers pushing the racks stopped near him. They gave their commanding officer a salute before they returned back to their posts inside of the marine base.

"And the best way to do that is by engaging these monsters in combat." Warrant Officer Patrick grinned as two large shadows suddenly loomed over all the marine recruits.

"Did someone block out the sun or something?" Jord and all the recruits looked up to see two massive sized men standing on top of the marine base.

"Everyone! Allow me to introduce you some of the Combat Specialists of this here base! Borris and Nikolai Vanderhousen!" Dexter introduced the two combat specialists with a monotone. The two combat specialists jumped down from the marine base and landed between in front of the recruits, causing most of them to lose their balance and fall to the ground once a small shock wave traveled through the ground upon their landing.

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you new recruits. Ve look forvard to training you and pounding your puny bones into fine powder." Nikolai spoke with a heavy Russian accent while cracking his knuckles. Nikolai was a rather large overly muscular man. He and his brother towered over everyone on the entire island. They both have shoulder length black hair and big brown eyes. They don the standard marine attire except for the fact that they were black fingerless gloves.

"Vhat my idiot brother meant to say vas...ve look forvard to training vith you all vithout pounding your puny bones into fine powder." Borris nervously said upon seeing the frightened faces appearing on most of the recruits' faces.

Feeling insulted in having his little brother correct him, Nikolai violently turned to Borris with his fist raised in anger. "That's not vhat I meant to say! If that vas vhat I meant to say, then I vould have said that!" He growled angrily.

"You alvays talk vith extreme rudeness brother! It's because of you that most of the recruits leave during combat training!" Borris sighed in disappointment while having several flashbacks of the past recruits leaving the base because of them.

"Vell maybe if they veren't so veak and spineless like jellyfish, then maybe they could become true marines!" Nikolai sighed.

"You're such a blockhead!" Borris yelled.

"Blockhead? I'll show you blockhead!" Nikolai swung his head forward and head butted Borris in the face. Borris staggered back a few feet and shook off the damage he received from his older brother. Enraged at being struck, Borris lunged toward his older brother and engaged him in a rumble. The recruits all sweat dropped and stared at the two fighting brothers. Most of them shivered in terror on how brutal the fighting was beginning to escalate.

"These two morons are going to train us in combat?" Harper shook her head in disappointment at the behavior of the fighting officials. She looked over to Bullock to see if he would step in to stop them. But the captain was rather too occupied pointing and laughing at the antics of the combat specialists alongside Patrick. The only one that seemed to be unimpressed was Dexter. The light from the sun reflected off his glasses and concealed the clear anger in his eyes. He slowly walked over to the fighting marines and separated the both of them with ease, shocking the recruits as they compared the sizes between the three of them. They had figured that Dexter should have been crushed by Borris and Nikolai in a matter of seconds.

"Borris...Nikolai...need I remind the two of you what would happen if you two fought like this again?" Borris and Nikolai were trembling in fear as a terrifying aura surrounded Dexter at the moment. Shivers traveled down the spines of all the recruits, only Bullock and Patrick seemed to be unaffected.

"W-why is everyone so s-s-scared of this guy? He doesn't seem s-s-s-so scary to me." Jord stuttered while hiding behind Corona who was trembling just about as much as he was. Corona herself had experienced Dexter's frightening personality yesterday and took a mental note to make sure that she never did anything to direct his anger over to her again.

"You're nothing more than a mere child. You could never comprehend the difference in power between those three men." Harper was slightly trembling herself, though she was doing a fairly good job at keeping her composure than most of the others. _"Something is off about this man. He's far more powerful than he's letting on. And since he's not the man in charge of this base...then how powerful is Bullock?"_

"Now then, that's enough fooling around right?" Dexter's eyes narrowed and then Borris and Nikolai exchanged glances with each other before nodding rapidly in unison with force smiles on their faces. "Good. Then let's start by handing the recruits some weapons."

"R-Right! Everyone come up to the racks and pick up a veapon of your choosing." Borris ordered after regaining his composure.

The recruits walked over to the racks and examined every weapon on the racks. The weapons ranged from nun-chucks to wooden cutlass swords. Most of the recruits were utterly confused as to why the weapons were made of wood.

"Why are you making us choose such toys for weapons?" Harper was obviously displeased with this situation. If she was going to partake in combat training, then she expected to wield a real weapon.

"If you're going to train us, then shouldn't you give us real weapons?" Tabitha asked.

"In due time ladies. You will all receive real weapons when we deem that you are worthy enough to wield them." Bullock said.

"Now then, ve're going to have a little battle royal!" The recruits all gasped in shock upon hearing such a ridiculous declaration from Nikolai.

"Relax everyone!" Borris nervously laughed. "My brother vas only joking!"

"All of you recruits are going to test your strength against both Borris and Nikolai here." Bullock informed all the recruits. The recruits glanced at their wooden weapons and then looked over to the two muscular Neanderthals. Shivers immediately went down their spines at the thought of having to fight them.

"This shouldn't be a problem at all." Harper stepped forward and then pointed her wooden sword at the two marine soldiers. "I'll take the both of you imbeciles down with one strike."

_"She's only gripping the sword with three fingers. This means that her preferred style of sword fighting is most likely fencing." Bullock mentally noted._

"Quite full of yourself as usual." Corona stepped forward and held her wooden sword up in a defensive way.

"Full of nothing but extravagant confidence in myself and abilities in combat." Harper grinned. "I suggest that you step aside and let the professionals handle this."

"I'll step aside when I do see the professionals." A vein popped on Harper's head upon hearing Corona's witty remark.

"Harper! Take them both down!" Beatrice and Tabitha cheered in unison.

"If you two truly believe that you're ready to take the two of us on by yourselves!" Nikolai grabbed a wooden sword off the weapons rack and started swinging it around wildly. "Then bring it on! I vill pound your puny bones into fine powder!"

"So be it! Coup Droit!" Harper lunged forward while extending her bladed arm forward. Despite her weapon being made of wood, she was trained to believe that anything could be a dangerous weapon if she struck her enemies in the right places.

Nikolai side-stepped to the left and easily managed to avoid being struck by Harper's wooden sword. He raised his wooden sword above his head before he quickly swung it down, aiming for Harper's head. She inclined back and narrowly managed to avoid being struck on the head, knowing that if she had been struck there it would have been game over for her. Once Nikolai's sword had touched the ground, the strength of the slash had split the ground in half for a few meters. The recruits stepped aside to avoid falling into the earth and gazed in awe at the man's monstrous strength.

"Amazing! There are people in this world that can do stuff like this?" Corona's mouth was left agape while Jord was pulling on her pant leg.

"Now's not a good time to be standing around Corona! Here comes the other guy!" Jord pointed to Borris who was now striking down the other recruits while constantly apologizing to them. But despite his warning, Corona was too wrapped up in the ground that had literally been split in two moments ago. She soon snapped back into reality once a large shadow had loomed over her. She slowly turned around and jumped back at the sudden appearance of Borris.

"I'm very sorry about this in advance!" Borris apologized before he swung his fist down, aiming for Corona's face.

Jord quickly jumped out of the way of the large man's fist while Corona stood there in place. The ground shook slightly and he turned around to see that Corona was no longer in the place she was standing; rather a large hole was there instead.

"Corona!" Jord yelled.

"Oh no! Did I accidentally crush another one?" Borris began to panic until he looked to his arm to see Corona clinging onto it.

"Oh my god that was close! I thought I was a goner for sure!" Corona panted heavily.

"Please remove yourself from my arm, thank you!" Borris violently shook his arm around in an attempt to get Corona to release him, but the female recruit refused to let go and hung to him for dear life. "Quite the grip you're got on you." He chuckled slightly before he looked down to see Jord punching and kicking his leg. He extended his arm downward and picked up the small child by the back collar of his shirt.

"Hey! Put me down! Put me down!" Despite currently being dangled, Jord continued to swing his arms and legs around wildly.

"Let him go!" Corona removed her arms from Borris' arm but still clung onto him using her legs. She tightened the grip on her wooden sword and struck the marine soldier square in the face. Borris released his hold on Jord and staggered back as he clutched his face while letting out a pained grunt.

Corona released her hold on Borris' arm and rushed over to help Jord who had been dropped onto the ground. She helped her friend back up to his feet and smiled upon seeing that he was okay.

"Ow...I fell on my butt..." Jord groaned in pain while rubbing his backside.

"Oh walk it off. You'll be fine you big baby." Corona laughed.

"Not a bad strike there, marine." Borris shook off the pain from the previous strike. "Let's see what else you can do with that wooden sword of yours."

"Any ideas Corona?" Jord asked.

"Run!" Corona grabbed Jord's hand and started running away from Borris who had started to give chase.

Meanwhile Harper and Nikolai continued on with their intense sword fight. Most of the recruits were in awe at how well Harper was holding up while the others simply waited for her to get beaten already so that they could have the time to prove themselves.

"Attack Au Fer: Battement!" Knowing that continuing to focus on attacking Nikolai would be pointless, Harper instead decided to strike Nikolai's wooden sword.

"I can see why you're so confident in your abilities now, marine. For a mere recruit, you're very talented in the way of the sword." Nikolai took a mental note that Harper was intentionally striking his sword.

"Of course I'm talented!" Harper announced it as if it was obvious to everyone else. "I'm the most extravagant marine in the entire world!" She continued to violently strike Nikolai's sword, grinning slightly once she noticed the cracks forming on the sword.

"Harper sure is doing well against that brute." Tabitha smiled.

"It'll only be a matter of time before she mops the floor with him." Beatrice nodded in agreement.

"I don't understand why she's now focused on striking Nikolai's blade." Patrick tilted his head to the side. "Wouldn't it make more sense to simply strike the person in a sword fight?"

"She's striking the sword in an attempt to break it. She thinks that if Nikolai has no sword to defend himself, then he'll simply surrender." Dexter assumed.

Harper and Nikolai's battle continued to wage on. Neither side wanting to give up until the other had been defeated. Their blades crossed paths once again and both of them were held at a complete stalemate, but only because Nikolai was holding back. He decided to lean forward and add more pressure and strength to the blade of his sword, forcing Harper to lean back. If things continued as they were, then Harper would soon find herself being pinned against the ground under the weight of Nikolai. She attempted to lean forward in order to return to an upright position, but she didn't have enough physical strength to do so.

"Vhat's vrong little girl? You're starting to get pushed back." Nikolai taunted the female recruit.

A vein had popped on Harper's head upon hearing Nikolai taunted. If there was one thing that she hated, it was being taunted by anyone. An idea on how to humiliate Nikolai came to her mind. She glanced down to his feet and needed to wait a few seconds more before he plan could come into play. After the few seconds had passed, Harper took action and slid to the right of Nikolai, and since he was putting all of his weight forward, gravity played its part in the world and Nikolai fell face first onto the ground.

Harper thrust her sword down and impaled the ground inches away from a downed Nikolai's neck. "I will admit that you're quite skilled as well, but you rely mainly on your brute strength." She stated.

"That Harper girl continues to amaze me. Not only has she already awakened her Kenbunsoshoku Haki, but she's skilled in the art of the sword and she can point out weaknesses in people." Patrick laughed.

"Indeed she is talented." Bullock nodded in agreement. "But just like everyone else, she has weaknesses of her own that can be easily exploited."

"Kyaaa! Harper's amazing! She just took down that brute without even breaking a sweat!" Beatrice and Tabitha squealed happily in unison.

"Don't be stupid!" Nikolai reached his arm forward and tightly gripped Harper's wooden sword before he crushed it in half, shocking both Beatrice and Tabitha.

Harper simply jumped back away from Nikolai since she wouldn't stand a chance against him without some sort of weapon in her hand.

"Rule one of combat: Don't let your guard down until you are one hundred percent sure that your enemy in either incapacitated or dead." Nikolai slowly stood to his feet and dusted himself off.

"I knew that it would have been too easy for you to have gone down like that." Harper sighed and then Beatrice and Tabitha rushed over to her side with their wooden swords at the ready.

"Now then, let's continue on vith the combat training!" Nikolai swung his sword around wildly, sending gusts of wind to slightly push back the three female recruits.

"Stand back little ladies and let the men handle this!" Harper and her cronies looked over their shoulders in annoyance as they saw three male recruits rushing over to them with their wooden swords raised above their heads. Harper took notice that all three men looked exactly alike. They all had short brown hair and blue eyes.

"Triplets?" Harper murmured.

"Who are these clowns?" Tabitha asked.

"There's no need to fear this man anymore! The One Hit Wonders will deal with him for you damsels in distress!" All three of the male recruits leaped into action after Nikolai, letting out loud battle cries in the process. The moment the men had entered within Nikolai's range, each of them had been sent flying back into the marine base by one swing of Nikolai's wooden sword.

"Nikolai is definitely going to pay for that." Dexter frowned as he made mental calculations on how much money he was going to have to spend to fix the damage of the base.

"I see why they're called the One Hit Wonders." Harper and her cronies sweat dropped in unison before they jumped out of the way to avoid being struck by Nikolai who had attempted to strike them while they were momentarily distracted. Harper looked over to her left for a moment to see Corona and Jord still being chased by Borris.

"Why is this guy only chasing after us?" Corona and Jord cried in unison as they frantically ran away from Borris who continued to chase after them while easily plowing through other marine recruits that attempted to stop him.

"Sooner or later he'll have to stop and take a breath, right?" Jord panted before he looked over his shoulder to check on the whereabouts of Borris. His eyes nearly popped out from their sockets upon seeing that Borris was only gaining speed. "Gahh! Corona! We need to run faster!"

"I think we're the ones that are going to have to stop and take a break at this rate!" Corona whined before she and Jord increased their speed in order to get away from Borris.

"You cannot run away from your enemies forever, marine! Sooner or later you will have to fight back!" Borris called out to the fleeing marines.

"He's right! We're going to have to fight him head on eventually!" Jord sighed heavily since he hated to admit it.

"Are you crazy? Did you see the way he plowed through the other recruits while he was chasing us?" Corona asked. "He will destroy us if he gets his hands on us again!"

"Well running around and screaming like little girls sure isn't going us any favors at the moment!" Jord stated.

"It's been working out for us this far!" Corona shot back before she started thinking of a way to defeat Borris. A light bulb soon appeared above her head once she had come up with the idea that could possibly defeat him. "Okay, I think I've got an idea that could get this guy off our backs for the time being."

"You do? What is it? Don't leave me in the dark here." Jord asked.

"Just follow me!" Corona made a sharp turn around the marine base and headed straight for the trap hole area of the obstacle course.

"Where does that marine think she's going?" Dexter asked, a small frown forming on his face.

"Who knows. But I'm interested in finding out." Bullock disappeared from his spot. After about two minutes of running around the base, Corona and Jord found themselves in the trap hole area of the obstacle course.

"Why are we here of all places?" Jord was confused as to why he had followed Corona here.

"This is where we will make our stand against that brute." Corona said as she turned around to see Borris slowly walking towards them.

"Finally decided to stop running and face me? Good...then let's begin!" Borris lunged towards Corona and Jord with his fist pulled back.

Corona and Jord jumped out of the way, revealing a large hole behind them, hoping that Borris would fall into it. But fate had other things in store unfortunately. Borris had already figured out their plan and stopped at the edge of the hole, much to Corona and Jord's dismay.

"Anymore bright ideas?" Jord asked.

"No, not really. The hole was basically my entire plan." Corona nervously laughed while rubbing the back of her neck.

"Great..." Jord sweat dropped and then his jaw dropped once Borris lunged toward them again.

"Lookout!" Corona pushed Jord out of harm's way while avoiding Borris in the process. Jord staggered back a few feet after being pushed and eventually found himself falling into one of the trap holes. After noticing her mistake in pushing her ally into one of the holes, she prepared to rush over and help him but Borris was blocking her path in doing so.

"No vhere to run and hide now, marine!" Borris laughed as he threw a seemingly endless barrage of punches at the female marine recruit.

"Yikes!" Corona's eyes widened as she started swaying her body from right to left in order to avoid being struck by the large man's fists.

"Interesting...it's as if she's a leaf flowing in the wind." Bullock chuckled to himself as he watched the battle progress from the safety of the marine base.

Feeling that he wouldn't be able to hit Corona at this rate; Borris suddenly had raised his knee up, planning on striking her square in the face. But her reflexes proved to be quite well for someone her age as she jumped back and performed a series of back handsprings to gain some distance.

"Thank you mom for letting me take those gymnastic lessons as a child." Corona panted slightly and tried to think of a way to get past Borris to get Jord.

"Are you only good at dodging and evading in a fight?" Borris rushed toward Corona once again. He wasn't planning on giving her any time to rest.

"Hold on! Hold on! Time out!" Corona turned around and started running away from Borris again.

"There are no time outs in battle!" Borris reached his arm forward and tried to grab the back collar of Corona's shirt. Immediately sensing the oncoming danger, Corona squatted down and saw Borris' arm pass right over her head. She gripped the sleeve of Borris' shirt and tore it right off before she crawled under his legs and ran off once again.

"What is she doing now?" Bullock was captivated by how interesting Corona's actions were in this fight.

"Vhat are you doing?" Borris yelled before he reached for Corona again with his other arm.

"Improvising!" Corona replied before she slid out of the way from Borris' reach and tore off the sleeve from that arm.

"Are you trying to humiliate me by stripping me naked in battle?" Borris asked and then Corona's face went red in embarrassment.

"W-what? Strip you naked?" Corona was flustered by Borris' outrageous exclamation. "I'm not trying to do anything perverted like that you brute!"

"Sure does seem like it." Borris smirked before he continued on with his charge toward her. Corona shook off her feelings of embarrassment and proceeded to tie the two sleeves together. She had to time this perfectly or else things would only continue to get worse for her. When Borris was exactly seconds away from grabbing her, she tied the torn sleeves around his wrists before she spun around and landed a back kick across the man's torso, sending him falling down into one of the trap holes.

"Owww...my leg is killing me!" Corona cringed in pain as she sat down onto the ground and rubbed her leg. "It felt like I kicked a rhino! His skin is so rough!"

"Corona! Help me out of this hole already!" Corona struggled to her feet and limped over to the hole that Jord was in.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to push you down into that hole." Corona nervously laughed as she laid down onto the ground and carefully placed herself over the edge of the hole. She reached her arm down and waited for Jord to jump up and grab hold.

"You landed another good shot on me, marine." Corona's eyes widened in horror once Borris' large shadow cast over her once again.

"Oh no...please stay down..." Corona gulped as she slowly looked over her shoulder to see Borris standing over her, his wrists were no longer tied together. Borris prepared to slam his fist onto Corona's skull until Bullock suddenly appeared in front of him and blocked his fist with one hand.

"Enough Borris. Take these two inside the base to their quarters and wait for further instructions." Bullock ordered, his usually playful attitude had changed into that of a professional one.

"May I ask vhy you have interfered in the combat training, Captain?" Borris slowly lowered his arm down to his side.

"It appears that we have an unwanted guest." Bullock replied in monotone as he started walking back to the front of the base.

"What's going on?" Corona asked as she looked over to Borris who simply replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

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Meanwhile, back at the front of the marine base. All of the marine recruits alongside Nikolai were lying across the battlegrounds unconscious. Instead of taking actions to check on the sudden fallen marines, Dexter and Patrick stood at attention and stared off into the distance as they could feel a certain presence approaching their base. A tall silhouette appeared on the horizon to which Dexter and Patrick saluted the oncoming figure once they had a clear look on who it was.

"Welcome to the 22nd Marine Branch...Vice-Admiral." Dexter and Patrick welcomed the figure in unison.

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**And that's the end of the chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it. Though I haven't done this in awhile in my first story, I think I'm going to go back to giving small previews to how the next chapter is going to be like.**

**Next time on One Piece: The Fight For Justice**

**The First Mission!**

**Corona: Of all the people to be teamed up with.**

**Jord: It could honestly be a lot worse than this.**

**Harper: Get in my way and I will cut you down without a moment's hesitation.**

**?-They're making a huge mistake in their decision. You've done nothing but waste people's time for your own enjoyment.**

**Bullock: State your business here and leave. I'm a very busy man you know.**

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**And that's the end of the preview! What kind of mission will Corona take part in? What business does this Vice-Admiral have with the base? All shall be revealed in the next chapter! So look forward to it!**

**Please Review and Enjoy!**


	5. The First Mission!

**The First Mission!**

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**South Blue: Taijamis Island; 22nd Marine Branch**

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"Wait a minute! Why are you taking me back to my quarters? Can't you tell me what's going on here?" Corona sighed as she was being carried back to her quarters by Borris. During the course of the combat training, she was only seconds away from being defeated by Borris until Captain Bullock had stepped in and intervened to her surprise. She remembered back to the angered expression on the Captain's face and how he quickly ordered for Borris to return her to her quarters.

"I'm not very sure on vhat's going on here myself to be honest." Was Borris' reply as he stopped in front of the door to the women's quarters. He slowly pulled Corona off his shoulder and gently placed her on the floor in front of the door. "But it must be very important if Captain Bullock ordered me to bring you inside in such a hurry." He said before he turned around to leave.

Not wanting the combat specialist to leave just yet because she was unsatisfied with the answer, Corona stretched her arm out and grabbed Borris by the shoulder. "Can't I at least head back outside to take a quick look?" She pleaded.

"No. Captain Bullock wants you to stay inside of the base." Borris shook his head. "You can either stay in your quarters or go eat in the mess hall."

"Okay then." Corona folded her arms under her chest and pouted in disappointment upon not being able to see what was going to happen outside. Once Borris had left the area, she looked back over her shoulder to see the door to the women's quarters. She contemplated heading in there to take a long deserving nap until her stomach growled rather loudly. She placed her hand on her stomach and blushed slightly in embarrassment before she started walking in a random direction, looking for the mess hall.

Meanwhile outside the base, Captain Bullock, Ensign Dexter, Warrant Officer Patrick, and Combat Specialist Nikolai were standing at attention at the presence of the Vice-Admiral. She was abnormally tall, standing at 8'4 ft. Her brunette hair is tied into a ponytail and she has narrow grey colored eyes. She is currently wearing a black business blouse with a grey scarf tucked into it, a black skirt, black high heels, and a marine coat draped over her shoulders.

"Vice-Admiral Nagisa. What brings you to our humble marine branch all the way out in South Blue?" Bullock spoke in monotone rather than his usually cheerful one.

Nagisa didn't reply to Bullock's question and just simply looked around the battleground to see the unconscious marine recruits that she had knocked out earlier with her Haki. An expression of anger mixed with disappointment etched onto her face before she had finally opened her mouth to speak. "Mind telling me what was going on here before I had arrived?" The Vice-Admiral asked.

"Combat training ma'am." Dexter replied.

"Combat training?" Nagisa arched in eyebrow at Dexter's reply, not really believing the answer given to her. "You mean to tell me that a large man like Nikolai viciously pounding away at marine recruits is considered combat training?"

"Oh...vell...uhhh..." Nikolai nervously averted his eyes away from the Vice-Admiral's gaze. He was felt intimidated by her overwhelming aura of sheer authority.

"I can already tell that this outrageous training method was concocted by none other than you Bullock." Nagisa looked over to Bullock. "Tell me, what did you honestly hope to happen by watching your recruits get beaten half to death?"

"I wanted to see how each of them fought on their own so that I could mold the future combat training sessions depending on their fighting styles to improve their own individual skills." Bullock informed her.

"That sounds like a bunch of rubbish to me to be honest." Nagisa leaned in and glared the marine captain directly in the eyes. "I know you, Bullock. You consider this base to be your playground and the marine soldiers working under you are your children. Which just goes to show that the higher ups are making a mistake in their decision. You've done nothing but waste people's time for your own enjoyment."

"State your business here and leave. I'm a very busy man you know." Bullock ordered the Vice-Admiral despite being outranked here at the moment, causing expressions of shock to appear on the faces of Dexter, Patrick, and Nikolai.

"Watch your tone marine. That's now how you're supposed to speak to your superiors." Nagisa warned him.

"Well I'm just trying to speed things up because some of the recruits here are going to head out on their first mission today." Bullock was clearly showing signs of irritation by the presence of the Vice-Admiral.

"You always were one to rush things." Nagisa sighed as she started walking toward the marine base. "We will continue on with this conversation in your office."

"I vonder vhy someone like her is here." Nikolai said quietly, hoping that Nagisa didn't hear him.

"I'm not sure, but whatever it is, let's get this over with quickly." Bullock sighed as he followed the Vice-Admiral into the base while literally dragging him to his feet.

"What should we do about the recruits?" Patrick indicated to the unconscious recruits laid out all over in front of the base.

"Take them back their quarters and allow them to rest." Dexter ordered before he started walking towards the base as well.

"You're not going to help?" Nikolai asked.

"I have other matters to attend to at the moment." Dexter replied.

Meanwhile after being wandering around the base for about forty minutes, Corona found herself finally in the mess hall, where a large majority of the senior marines were. Even though she had only been there for a few seconds, she already felt intimidated being in the presence of people that out ranked her. The area around her felt so tense that she felt everyone would turn around and glare at her. Unknowing to her that everyone had already realized that she was there. They just didn't care for a recruit to be looking for food in the mess hall.

Corona took a moment to brace herself before she started walking to the food line. It was her first time being amongst so many senior marines at once and she didn't want to make a fool of herself by doing something stupid. After gathering all of her food onto one plate, she looked around the room for a spot where she could sit down and enjoy her meal. Unfortunately all the spots were taken, meaning that she would have to stand and eat at this point, making her feel embarrassed about her situation. A stair case leading to the second floor of the mess hall caught her eye alongside an empty table. She took it upon herself to walk up the stairs and take her seat at the empty table.

Just when she was about to stuff her face with the delicious food on her plate, a senior marine officer with white spiky hair and emerald green eyes sat down at the same table. The marine officer is currently wearing a white colored marine jacket, a black scarf tied around his neck, dark navy blue trousers, and black combat boots. The marine officer simply sat there for awhile and stared at Corona with a small frown on his face. Corona felt really uncomfortable being stared at by the marine officer. About a minute of awkward silence had passed and Corona was getting fed up with the officer's creepy behavior. She set her food down on the plate and glared at the officer.

"Is there something that you want?" Corona asked, hoping that the marine officer would eventually get up and leave her alone.

"As a matter of fact there is." The marine officer placed his index finger onto the table, a wicked grin etching onto his face. "You're sitting at my table recruit."

"Oh really? I'm sorry, but I don't see your name on it." Despite her remark being cliché and overused, it was the only response she could think of on such short notice. Though she felt intimidated by the marine officer, the last thing that Corona wanted to do was get pushed around by another marine inside of the base.

"Is that so?" The marine officer arched an eyebrow before he suddenly pulled out a knife and stabbed it into the table. Corona jerked back from her seat in surprise and watched the officer carve his name into the table.

"So your name is Tides?" Corona asked as she looked down to the name carved into the table.

"Yes it is recruit. Now go away." Tides gestured for her to run off with his hand. "My pals are going to show up soon and I don't want them to see me talking to someone like you."

"Fine then asshole!" Corona grabbed her plate off the table and prepared to leave until she heard muffled sneakers escape from the mouth of Tides.

"Come on now, I'm just messing around with you. You can sit down here if you want." Tides laughed. Corona was flummoxed by the soldiers odd antics but decided to sit down at the table again since she thought it would be troublesome to find other seat somewhere else. "I'm sorry about all that earlier. I just like to mess around with the new recruits some times."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that." Corona obviously wasn't amused at being messed with.

"So what's your name recruit?" Tides asked as he folded his arms behind the back of his head.

"Corona J. Reynolds." Corona replied before she started to stuff her face with food.

"Welcome to the 22nd Marine Branch, Corona. I'm Lieutenant Commander Tides." Tides properly introduced himself.

"It's nice to meet you I guess." Corona was still showing annoyance toward the Lieutenant Commander.

"I saw that you recruits were having a hard time with the obstacle course and combat training earlier. I'm surprised that you're still even conscious at the moment." Tides said.

"I was about to get the wind knocked out of me until Captain Drilly Head stepped in for some unknown reason." Corona told him.

"Probably because that Vice-Admiral suddenly showed up and rendered everyone unconscious on the battlegrounds." Tides pointed out.

"A Vice-Admiral? What's a Vice-Admiral doing all the way out here? Shouldn't they be at headquarters?" A stunned Corona shot up from her seat.

"They usually are at headquarters or somewhere else in the Grand Line. But this particular Vice-Admiral has something against Captain Bullock." Tides disclosed to the stunned recruit. He prepared to continue on with his story until a female marine officer had arrived behind him and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Are you boring the recruit with your outrageous conspiracy theories again?" The female marine officer rested her chin on Tides head.

"Conspiracy theory?" Corona asked.

"I'm sorry that you had to sit here and listen to Tides ridiculous story. He always messes with people by telling them tall tales." Lieutenant Junior Grade Jays apologized to Corona. Jays is a female marine officer standing at an average height. She has a slender figure with hazel green eyes and long wavy blue hair that reaches down to her back. She is currently wearing a black tank top with the marine coat draped over her shoulders, dark navy blue trousers, and black combat boots.

"This isn't a conspiracy theory though. Even around this base can tell that Vice-Admiral has it out for Bullock's ne-mmmfff..." The rest of Tides sentence was muffled once Jays hair stretched out and covered his mouth, shocking Corona in the process.

"Shouldn't you be focused on taking another mission besides sitting around telling stories to the recruits?" Jays sighed while Tides struggled to remove her hair from over his mouth.

"I completed a mission three days ago. Can't I simply stay here in the comfort of the base for just a little while?" Tides whined after he had removed the hair from his mouth.

"No you can't. I know how you get when you start slacking off." Jays and Tides continued on with their banter while Corona sat idly by and watched the two while continuing to eat her food. After she had finished her food and realized that Jays and Tides were still arguing, she decided to head back to her quarters to get some rest. The moment she turned around to leave the area, she collided straight into someone and fell onto her floor. She looked up angrily to see who she had bumped into but soon changed her expression upon seeing that it was none other than Dexter.

"On your feet marine." Dexter ordered and then Corona quickly stood up to her feet, not wanting to make her superior angry. He opened his mouth to speak to the recruit until he caught a glance of Tides name carved into the table. He gently pushed the recruit aside and slammed his hand onto the table, instantly forcing everyone in the mess hall to stop talking.

"S-Something wrong here, Ensign Dexter sir?" Tides nervously laughed as he started sweating bullets at the presence of the intimidating man.

"Lieutenant Commander Tides, do you by any chance own this table?" Dexter's eyes narrowed as he glared at the now frightened Tides. He placed his finger next to carving so that Tides focused his attention onto it.

_"Wait a minute, if I remember the ranking system. Lieutenant Commander is a higher rank than an Ensign. Shouldn't Dexter be more respectful to him then?" Corona thought as she continued to watch the two interact._

"Own this particular table? No I don't, I was just uhhh..." Tides looked over to Jays with pleading eyes for her to help him out of the situation.

"You do not own this table and yet you feel like you have the right to carve your name into it?" Dexter arched an eyebrow before he reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a mission form. "You're obviously going to have to pay for the damages done to the table you know."

"Ensign Dexter sir, I have enough money in my wallet to just pay for the damages right now. I don't need to go on a mission to..." Tides immediately shut up his mouth once he felt an intimidating aura emitting from Dexter.

"I'm going to kill two birds with one stone today. You're going to accompany three recruits on this particular mission and use your share of the money to repair this table." Dexter told Tides before he turned around to face Corona. "You're going to join Lieutenant Commander Tides on this mission. Follow him to the ship and I will send two more recruits your way."

"R-Right!" Corona saluted her superior officer and then watched him make his way out of the mess hall. All of the marines in the mess hall sighed in relief that he was now gone and they all returned to their previous conversations.

"Great...looks like I'll be going on that mission now." Tides sighed in utter defeat as he stood up from the table while reading the mission form in his hand.

"You have no one to blame but yourself on this one." Jays shrugged her shoulders before she took a seat at the table.

"You're not going to accompany me on this mission? Four eyes is sending me on a mission off the island with three recruits." Tides whined. "It takes at least eight to nine people to steer the ship."

"Looks like you're going to have to teach the recruits on how to be useful then." Jays grinned. She wasn't planning on getting up from her seat anytime soon.

"We'll continue with this conversation when I get back in a few days." Tides told Jays before he looked over to Corona and nudged his head to the side, signifying for her to follow him to the ship. Corona and Tides made their way out from the base and eventually found themselves standing in front of the naval ship anchored at the docks.

"Wow...this looks so cool. I've never been on a marine ship before in my life." Corona's eyes sparkled in sheer excitement.

"Recruits." Tides simply chuckled upon seeing Corona's reaction before he started climbing his way onto the ship.

"So...Lieutenant Commander Tides?" Corona called nervously.

"No need to be so formal as to call me Lieutenant Commander." Tides responded. "You can just call me Tides whenever people like Dexter aren't around."

"I wanted to talk to you about Four eyes anyway." Corona smiled since she could freely use nicknames to refer to people. Ever since her first meeting with Dexter, she figured that nickname calling was taboo as long as he was around. But now that he was nowhere in sight, she felt free to do whatever she pleased. "You clearly outrank him right? How come your obeying his orders?"

"You're just a recruit and I can't really trust you to keep your mouth shut about certain subjects. But I guess you should know that I technically do outrank Four eyes." Tides nodded as he climbed his way onto the marine ship.

"You technically outrank-" Corona stopped in mid-sentence once she felt an arm snake its way around her shoulder. She quickly jumped back and turned to see who had snuck up behind her with her fists raised up to her face, preparing for a fight if the situation called for it.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Put yours fists down! There's no need to start a fight!" A female marine recruit with long pink hair and green eyes nervously laughed while waving her hands in front of her.

"Oh...you must be one of the recruits joining us on the mission." Corona slowly lowered her arms down to her side. "Don't sneak up on me like that again please."

"No promises." Was the pinked haired recruits response before she walked past Corona and placed her hand on the ship. "Second day being an official marine and I'm already being sent off on a mission. This is going to be exciting. Usually recruits have missions on their stationed islands for at least three months."

"I guess we should consider ourselves lucky then." Corona smiled as she stretched her hand out. "I'm Corona. What's your name?"

"The name's Lucy. It's a pleasure to meet you Corona." Lucy reached her hand out and shook Corona's hand.

"Hold on a second, I thought that Four eyes was sending over two more recruits." Tides rested her arms on the railing of the ship and stared down to the two recruits standing in front of the ship. "Where's the third recruit?"

"Over here." Corona and Lucy turned around to see Harper and her cronies walking towards them while clutching their heads. They had not yet fully recovered from the burst of Haki earlier.

"Of all the people to be teamed up with." Corona huffed while folding her arms under her chest.

"Hmph, it's not like I'm ecstatic about joining the likes of you losers on this mission either. I would rather be joined in the company of my companions." Harper indicated to Beatrice and Tabitha standing behind her.

"Of course you would." Corona rolled her eyes. "A pampered little princess like yourself could never go anywhere without her mindless servants following her every whim."

"Now, now, there's no need for name calling. We're comrades in this mission now." Lucy grabbed Corona and Harper's hands and pulled them closer together.

"Hey! If you recruits are done messing around down there! Hurry your asses up and get on this ship! We have a mission to complete remember!" Tides yelled from the ship.

"Let me make myself perfectly clear here. I don't need nor want your help during this mission from either of you. Get in my way and I will cut you down without a moment's hesitation." Harper threatened her two comrades before she made her way onto the ship, leaving Corona and Lucy slightly stunned after hearing the threat.

"What crawled her up ass?" Lucy's kind demeanor had suddenly changed as she looked up at Harper.

"Not sure, but let's piss her off by working together to complete this mission without her." A mischievous grin appeared across Corona's face and then the girls looked each other for a moment before they started to giggle. They immediately shook hands and formed their alliance against Harper before they made their way onto the ship as well; ready to get moving on their first mission.

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**And that's the end of this chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it! The Vice-Admiral Oc Nagisa belongs to fangirl-4-evEr-xx and the marine recruit Oc Lucy belongs to Michael The Archangel! My thanks go to the both of you for your character submissions! :D**

**Now time for the preview!**

**Next time on One Piece: The Fight For Justice!**

**Catch the Thief! The Vigilante, Savior!**

**?-This man has stolen something very precious to me and I need it back.**

**Harper: You mean that we're here to capture a petty thief?**

**Lucy: A vigilante that steals from the rich and gives to the poor?**

**Corona: Looks like we have ourselves a classic Robin Hood case here.**

**Tides: A thief's a thief. Once we catch the bastard, we bring him to justice.**

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**Please Review and Enjoy!**


	6. Catch the thief! The Vigilante, Savior!

**Catch the Thief! The Vigilante, Savior!**

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**South Blue: Naikawa Island**

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After sailing for about two days in the South Blue Ocean, Corona and the others had finally reached their destination where their first official mission would take place. It wasn't easy getting to the island since only four people were steering the ship, but they somehow managed to get there. Corona helped the others lower the anchor, raise the sails, and dock on the ship onto the island.

"This island is rather huge compared to our island." Corona noted as she stared off to the island in awe. This was her first time seeing another island other than her own. She took the time to admire all of the buildings, grass fields, and enormous hill tops far off into the distance. Upon seeing those sights, she became rather restless despite that she was already tired from steering the ship. She wanted to explore the island as much as she could before the mission actually need to take place.

"Lieutenant Commander Tides." Harper called to her superior officer. "Now that we've arrived to our designated island. Would you be so kind as to brief us on the mission?"

"Right. Apparently our client, Mr. Oswald Jenkins has become a victim of a series of thefts that have been occurring lately on the island. He wants us to find the thief and bring him to justice." Lieutenant Commander Tides explained to the recruits.

"We came all this way to deal with a petty thief?" Harper was rather displeased with the objective of the mission. Though she was only a mere recruit, she had expected her mission to be more...well exciting. She had wanted to undergo a mission which involved her taking down pirates, going undercover, something more exhilarating for someone of her talents.

"Believe me sister, I'm not too thrilled about this mission either. But we got to do what we got to do." Tides sighed while rubbing the back of his neck. He obviously didn't want to be on this mission. He was exhausted from having to steer the ship nearly all by himself and the mission was so easy that even a bunch of recruits could handle it. It honestly didn't sound like a bad idea for him. He would let the recruits handle the capture of the thief while he simply sat back and relaxed the entire time. It's not like Ensign Dexter was on the island anyway, so how would he know if Tides slacked off or not?

"Lieutenant Commander Tides, shall we go and inform our client that we have reached the island and will be partaking in the mission immediately?" Harper asked.

"Huh? Oh, uhhh...yeah. I'm going to stay here for a while and gather up some supplies for the return home. Can I trust you three to have the mission done in a few hours?" Tides asked.

"We'll do our best." Corona and Lucy saluted their superior officer and then made their way off the ship. They looked forward to the town in front of them and exchanged glances with each other when they realized that they had no idea where they were going or who this Mr. Oswald person even looked like. They both looked back up to Tides with pleading eyes and the Lieutenant Commander let out an irritated sigh before he handed the information needed over to Harper who he believed would make more use of it than the other two.

"Imbeciles." Harper took the piece of paper handed to her and took a second to read over it. "If you want to find Mr. Oswald, he's currently living in that mansion over there." She pointed to the far other side of the island.

Corona and Lucy's eyes beamed and their jaws dropped in amazement upon the size of the large white colored mansion on top of the hill of the island. Their eyes immediately changed to beli signs at the thought of how much money they would make if they did a spectacular job at completing the mission. The two recruits grabbed each other's hands and made a mad dash towards the mansion, leaving Harper and Tides behind in a trail of their dust cloud.

"H-Hey! Get back here you two! We need to help the Lieutenant Commander gather supplies before we partake in the mission!" Harper called out to her recruit companions but found it to be futile since they were long gone. "They're going to make complete fools of themselves on this mission." She voiced her input as she turned to Tides.

"You seem to be quite level headed about this mission. I will leave you in charge of the other two while I'm out gather supplies." Tides told her.

"Right. Thank you sir." Harper saluted her superior officer before she jumped off the ship and made her way over to the mansion. Once she had made it near the mansion, she came across Corona and Lucy who were standing in front of the closed gates.

"Hello? Is there anybody in there?" Corona called out to no one in particular.

"Maybe they're not home?" Lucy shrugged her shoulders.

"What are we supposed to do now? How are we going to meet up with Mr. Oswald if the gates won't open?" Corona pressed her hands against the gates and attempted to push them open.

"I don't think pushing them open will wor-" Lucy stopped in mid-sentence once the gates in front of them slowly started to open automatically, causing Corona who was pushing against them to fall flat on her face.

"Looks like we'll be able to meet up with our client after all." Harper stepped over Corona and made her way onto the organized tiled pathway leading to the mansion. Once Lucy had helped Corona to her feet, the two quickly followed after Harper, soon reaching the front door. Harper stretched her arm out to push the door bell until the door had suddenly opened.

An elderly man wearing a black butler uniform had stepped out onto the porch in front of the marine recruits with his arms behind his back. "I'm assuming that you three are the marines that have accepted the master's plea for help?"

"There are actually four of us. But yes, we are here to help catch the thief and bring him or her to justice." Harper nodded.

"Step right this way then. The master will be happy to see you." The butler stepped aside and gestured for the women to enter the mansion with his hand.

"Thank you." The three female marines walked inside of the mansion. The butler closed the door behind him and then walked ahead of them to lead them through the mansion. Corona and Lucy's eyes wandered all over the place, admiring all of the cool artifacts, paintings, and statues that were all over the halls of the mansion.

"Wow. Mr. Oswald must be a very rich man to have such expensive looking stuff." Corona commented.

"You didn't figure out that he was a rich man upon seeing that he lived in a mansion?" Flames of anger erupted around Corona as she attempted to lung herself at Harper for her snooty remark until Lucy grabbed her and held her back.

"Oh yes. Master Oswald inherited this place from his father that unfortunately passed away ten years ago from a heart attack." The butler informed them. "The previous master of this mansion loved to collect rare and valuable items from all over the world."

"So what does Mr. Oswald do?" Lucy asked. The butler suddenly stopped in front of the last door at the end of the hallway and knocked three times before he opened the door.

"Master Oswald...the marines are here to accept the mission." The butler announced.

"Thank you very much Sebastian. Please send them in." Oswald looked up from the papers on his desk and watched the three recruits enter the room. Oswald is a middle aged man with short brown hair and green eyes. He is currently wearing a black business suit and has a cigar in his mouth. "My, my, my. I had no idea the marines would be sending over three beautiful ladies to come help me with my dilemma."

"Thanks for the compliment, but they sent over another marine as well. He's just getting things situated for the ship." Lucy informed him.

"No matter. Please have a seat." Oswald gestured to the chairs behind the recruits which they gladly accepted the offer.

"So Mr. Oswald, I understand that there have been a series of thefts occurring lately on this island?" Harper asked as she stretched her arm out and handed Oswald the mission form.

"Why yes." Oswald took the mission form and examined it. "A few months ago a vigilante appeared on the island and started to steal valuable items from the people."

"Sounds typical. Vigilante's always think that they can do whatever they please." Harper rolled her eyes.

"It's so strange though. Not only is he stealing from people, but he's also helping people too. Recent reports of robbers on this island being captured by the vigilante are the talk of the town." Oswald stated.

"Odd...why would a vigilante that steals from the people also help the people?" Lucy asked.

"I heard rumors from people that he's stealing from the apparent wrong doers and is giving to the poor. He's also trying to keep this island safe from possible danger." Oswald replied.

"We have ourselves a classic Robin Hood case here." Corona's happy expression revealed that she found this current situation to be very exciting, which irritated Harper who believed in professionalism on missions.

"Have any attempts been made to capture the vigilante in question?" Harper inquired.

"Yes. The local authorities on this island have attempted to capture him, but of course with no success. They believe that the people on this island are helping him evade capture since they believe him to be a savior of some sort." Oswald stood up from his chair and turned around to stare out the large window behind him.

"If the people consider him a savior and he only steals from wrong doers. Why is he targeting you?" Lucy asked.

"I am the richest man on this island. I have valuable treasures in this very mansion that are beyond your wildest dreams. Anyone could become corrupt after seeing all of the treasures that I have accumulated." Oswald turned to face the recruits. "I know that the people claim him to be a savior, but saviors do not steal. That aside, there's nothing this island needs to be saved from except from him. Oh, and the other day, I received a letter in the mail from him." He reached into his breast pocket, pulled out a letter, and then placed it on the table for everyone to see.

"I know who you are and I know what you're doing. Your crimes will lead to the destruction of this island and I will see to it that you are stopped." Harper read aloud.

"What kind of crimes have you committed?" The three female marine recruits looked up at Oswald.

"I haven't committed any crimes." Oswald sighed as he sat back down in his chair. "That's why I'm worried that this vigilante is come kind of deranged criminal."

"Hmm...I guess we'll just have to look into this then." Harper stood up from her chair. "Mr. Oswald, do you perhaps have any enemies on this island?"

"Not that I can think of." Oswald thought for a moment and shook his head.

"Okay then. We will begin our investigation immediately." Harper announced and then Corona and Lucy stood up from their chairs. "Can you show us where the Savior started making his presence known to the public?"

"That would be..." Oswald looked up and tapped his index finger against his chin repeatedly. "The docks. The Savior has been stealing from my cargo ships lately."

"Alright then. We'll head back over to the docks and begin our investigation from there." Lucy turned around to leave.

"Due be careful though. I have a cargo ship coming in later on this evening with some valuable equipment from a dear friend of mine. I would be devastated if it were to fall in the hands of that criminal." Oswald frowned.

"Leave it to us, Mr. Oswald. We'll protect the cargo on the ship and we'll capture the vigilante for you." Corona, Harper, and Lucy all saluted the man in unison before they left the room.

"This is going to be very exciting. We might actually be able to capture this vigilante while protecting a cargo ship carrying valuable equipment in one night." Lucy smiled alongside Corona.

"If that were to happen, it would be the easiest mission of all time for me." Corona laughed. "How much money do you think he'll pay us if we actually manage to do so?"

"There's no need for all of us to return to the docks." Harper looked over her shoulder to Corona and Lucy. "I'll go investigate the docks with Lieutenant Commander Tides while you two go find out what you can about the Savior."

"Who made you in charge of this mission?" Corona was getting irritated by Harper's superiority like behavior.

"Lieutenant Commander Tides is obviously the one in charge of the mission. But when he is not around, I will assume command of the both of you since he ordered me to." A smirk appeared across the blonde haired girls face.

"What? That's not fair!" Corona stepped forward to object to Harper's proclamation until Lucy had stepped in between them.

"Now, now, there's no need to fight." Lucy calmly said. "Let's just focus our attention on catching the thief."

"That's exactly what I planned on doing from the very beginning." Harper turned her back to Corona and Lucy. "You two may do as you wish. But I warn you, if you make fools out of yourselves and I hear of this, I'll cut you both down." She said before she walked away.

"Grrrr...I do not like her." Corona growled through her clenched teeth.

"You may not like her, but we do have to work alongside her." Lucy stated before she sharply turned around at the sound of a door quickly slamming shut. She rushed over to the shut door and proceeded to kick it open. She saw a young man scrambling across the bed in a desperate attempt to escape the mansion from out the window. She immediately took action and tackled the young man onto the bed.

"Lucy! What the hell are you doing?" Corona yelled as she entered the room to see Lucy wrapping the young man up in his bed sheets.

"Capturing this thief! I think he entered the mansion from the open window and attempted to steal something until he saw us and tried to run away!" Lucy stated proudly as she pinned the struggling young man down with one foot.

"Wow...good job Lucy." Corona was impressed by Lucy's skills.

"Y-Young Master Richard! I heard a noise coming from this room and..." Sebastian's mouth dropped to the floor upon seeing the sight before him. "Good heavens! What have you two done to young master Richard?"

"Young master Richard?" Corona and Lucy asked in confusion as they exchanged glances with each other before they looked down to the young man wrapped up in the sheets. "You mean him?"

"Yes, the boy wrapped up in the bed sheets is Master Oswald's son." Sebastian informed them. Corona and Lucy stood there for a moment in a complete daze before they realized their mistake. They immediately unwrapped Richard from the sheets and repeated bowed their heads to him as a form of apology.

"Sorry for kicking your door open, tackling you, and wrapping you up in your bed sheets." Lucy apologized.

"You really gave me quite a heart attack there." Richard had his hand clutched over his chest as he wheezed heavily, trying desperately to get some air into his lungs.

"I thought you were the thief since you slammed your door shut and attempted to escape out the window when you saw us." Lucy said.

"I thought that you guys were the thieves." Richard said after he had used his inhaler to regulate his breathing.

"Good to know that this was all some kind of misunderstanding." Sebastian sighed in relief as he helped Richard back into his bed.

"Is Richard sick?" Corona asked.

"Yes. Young master Richard has had a very weak body ever since he was born. He has the same illness his mother had before she passed away three years ago." Sebastian replied.

"I'm very sorry for your loss." Corona said in a soft tone of voice.

"No need to worry. Death is a natural occurrence in life." Richard smiled weakly.

"Anyway, I noticed that one marine has headed off to being her investigation. What are you two going to do?" Sebastian asked.

"We're going to question people in the town about the thief. Do you know where the people of the island are the most sociable?" Corona asked.

"That would be this island's pub. I'm most certain that most of the rumors spread across the island all start from there." Sebastian replied as if he were speaking from experience.

"Perfect. We'll begin our investigation at the pub." Lucy turned around and took off in a random direction. Corona planned on going after her to stop but figured that Lucy would eventually come back once she realized that she had no earthly idea where she was going.

"Umm, exactly how many pubs are there on this island?" Corona felt the need to ask since she remembered how big the island was.

"At least seven." Sebastian replied.

"Great..." Corona sighed heavily as she ran off after Lucy. Once she had caught up with her, the two recruits searched six out of the seven pubs and were unable to gather any information regarding the Savior. They made their way into the seventh and final pub on the island and mentally hoped that they would find something useful this time. Upon entering the pub, nearly everyone looked up from their drinks and glanced over at Corona and Lucy. The two recruits seemed pretty nervous at the moment and rushed over to the bartender so that they could at least fit in a little while they were inside.

"What can I get you young ladies today?" A female bartender with jaw-length black hair and brown eyes turned to face Corona and Lucy while cleaning a dirty glass cup.

"Oh, I would like some sa-" Corona immediately covered Lucy's mouth. Knowing how Lucy is after sailing with her for two days, she knew that the last thing that Lucy needed was alcohol.

"We didn't come here to drink Lucy. We're here on official marine business." Corona scolded her comrade. She was trying to show of her professionalism skills to the bartender.

"Oh? You two are marines?" The bartender raised an eyebrow, not completely convinced by their statement due to their young age.

"Yes. We're here to find and capture the Savior." The entire room instantly grew silent. The music abruptly turned off and everyone in the bar turned in their seats to glare at the two recruits once again; showing their disdain for their declaration.

"That seemed conveniently choreographed. I thought stuff like that only occurred in the movies." Corona nervously laughed.

"No need to feel threatened. They've been practicing that for months." The bartender assured them. She looked up to the people inside the pub and ordered them to return back to their drinks. She received several disappointed groans and grumbles from the people but they eventually abided by her rules and returned to their drinks.

"So, what makes you marines think that you can capture the Savior?" The bartender placed her glass cup on the bar table. "Better yet, who issued the order to capture the Savior?"

"It's obviously that rich son of a bitch, Oswald! He's been gunning for the Savior ever since he first arrived on this island." A drunk man spoke up from his bar booth.

"Why would Oswald want to capture the Savior? He's done nothing but good in this town. Crime has dropped severely ever since he arrived." Another drunken man stated.

"We've heard of some of his good deeds around here. But he's still a thief and must be captured." Lucy said which immediately angered the people inside of the bar once again. Everyone stood up from their seats and began to surround the two recruits.

"What's going on here?" Corona and Lucy noted the angry expressions on the faces of the people surrounding them.

"The Savior only steals from those that have done wrong. If he's decided to target Oswald, then perhaps you marines should go out there and investigate more on your client!" The people inside of the pub grabbed the two recruits and hurled them outside onto the street before slamming the doors to the pub shut.

"How rude! We're trying to help them and they just throw us out onto the street like this?" Corona stood back up to her feet and dusted herself off before she walked over to Lucy and helped her up.

"The people regard the Savior as a hero like Mister Oswald said earlier." Lucy sighed while looking around the place. "Us walking around claiming that we're going to capture their hero is making us look like the bad guys."

"But we're not the bad guys." Corona hung her head and sighed before she looked back up to her friend. "So what do we do now? We've investigated the most famous pubs on the island and we've only found out that everyone worships the Savior."

"Umm...excuse me. Mind if I could assist you in anyway?" Both Corona and Lucy turned around to see Richard standing behind him with a shy look on his face.

"Richard?" Corona and Lucy said in unison.

* * *

While Corona and Lucy were busy back at the pub, Harper had made it back to the marine ship and explained the situation to Tides.

"So the people on this island consider this Savior to be an actual hero huh?" Tides mumbled while rubbing his chin with his index finger. Now that he had been caught up to speed on how things worked on this island, things were going to be harder than he expected.

"Yes sir. From what I've heard from Mister Oswald and his butler, the Savior has been stealing from thieves and criminals and has been giving them to the poor and less fortunate." Harper nodded.

"Then what was the point of going on this damn mission if we're trying to capture a hero? How come this seemingly easy mission has suddenly taken a turn for the worst?" Tides walked over to the railing of the ship and looked overboard to stare at his reflection in the water for a moment. After taking his time to think of something, he had finally come up with a decision on how to approach the mission from now on. "Harper, you mentioned that a cargo ship would be coming here later on tonight right?"

"Yes sir. Mister Oswald instructed us to keep it safe from the Savior at all cost since there is something important on the ship that he doesn't want the Savior to get his hands on." Harper nodded again.

"Alright then. We'll remain stationed here and keep that cargo ship safe from this Savior person." Tides informed the recruit. "I want to meet this guy in person tonight. Once I've met him, I'll be the judge whether or not we'll arrest him."

"If I can speak out of turn. I don't completely trust this mission sir. I believe that there's more to this than Mister Oswald was letting on." Harper told him.

"I agree with you there." Tides let out an irritated sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck. "If this Savior person steals from criminals and thieves. Then Oswald must be quite the criminal and thief himself."

* * *

Meanwhile back at Oswald's mansion, mister Oswald was sitting in his chair while tapping his index finger repeatedly on the table as if he were waiting for something to happen. His gaze was fixated on two things inside of his personal study, the clock on the wall, and the den den mushi right next to him. As the clock drew closer and closer to reaching two-thirty, more and more sweat ran down Oswald's face as his heart rate increased. Once the large hand reached the six, the den den mushi began to ring.

Mister Oswald scrambled for the den den mushi and nearly dropped it onto the floor upon answering it due to his sweaty fingers. "H-Hello?" He answered nervously.

"You sound nervous again. I thought that you would get use to me calling you around this time of day, Oswald." A deep masculine voice said from the other end of the den den mushi.

Oswald looked down to see the neutral expression the den den mushi was currently displaying. He slowly sat down in his chair and let out a heavy sigh in an attempt to calm himself down. "The time of day has nothing to do with it. It's the subjects of the conversations that we have that's got me all nervous."

"You wouldn't have to be nervous if it weren't for that blasted Savior vigilante that's been stealing all of my product." The den den mushi started to show a slight angered expression on its face.

"Forgive me, but I've been doing everything in my power to-"

"Like hell you have!" The masculine voice shouted, causing Oswald to nearly jump out from his seat in fear. "You're the richest man on that island and you're telling me that your top notch security cannot protect a cargo ship from a damn super hero wannabe?!"

"Y-You don't understand! If I waste much more money on buying higher tech security equipment, the police will grow suspicious of my actions and will search the cargo ships!" Oswald stated.

"Then pay them off not to search the cargo ships. My product is very important and I don't want any of it getting damaged." The masculine voice had calmed down and the den den mushi returned to expressing a neutral face.

"I've done the best thing I could by hiring marines to protect the cargo ship from the Savior tonight. Surely they will be able to capture him." Oswald smiled.

There was a long moment of silence before a deep sigh came from the den den mushi. "Let me get this straight. You hired marines to protect the cargo ship holding my most important cargo?"

"Y-Yes. Was that a bad thing? Since the police couldn't do their jobs correctly, surely the marines will." Oswald said nervously before he gulped at the apparent mistake he had made.

"What if the marines get curious and decide to look within the cargo while they're protecting it? What do you think will happen when they find out what's in there?" The masculine voice asked.

"I'll...I'll simply handle it. I promise. The deal is going to go smoothly this time. I swear it to you." Oswald frowned.

"It had better go smoothly. Or else you, your son, and everyone else on that damn island will be slaughtered by me and my blades." The masculine voice said before he hung up.

Oswald slowly hung up the den den mushi to silence the dial tone. He ran his hand through his hair and turned around in his chair to stare out the window. "I'm putting a lot of faith in you marines. I pray that you all are successful in your mission to protect the cargo ship. All of our lives rest in your hands now."

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**And that's the end of this chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it! I know there wasn't much action but I promise there will be some in the next chapter! Now it's time for the preview for the next chapter!**

**Next time on One Piece: The Fight for Justice!**

**No Hope Now!**

**Corona: We'll defend the cargo with our lives because it's our duty as marines.**

**Savior: You marines have no earthly idea on what you're doing or what you're trying to protect.**

**Lucy: Well that was a humiliating turn of events, don't you think?**

**Harper: You're going to tell us everything that's going on if you expect us to continue on with this mission.**

**Tides: Okay, I'm calling in for back up. This mission has become far too dangerous for three mere recruits.**

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**Please Review and Enjoy!**


	7. No Hope Now!

**No Hope Now!**

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**South Blue: Naikawa Island**

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It was evening, the sun had long set and now the full moon hung over the sky alongside thousands of stars. Lieutenant Commander Tides and the three recruits under his care, Corona, Harper, and Lucy stationed themselves in front of the warehouse where a cargo ship would soon be making its delivery for the day. This part of the mission was crucial for this was going to be their only chance at capturing the Savior since no one on the island would give up any important detail regarding his identity.

The four marines were not alone though. In case something was to go wrong, Mr. Oswald had suggested for the police force to work alongside the marines to ensure of the Savior's capture. Though there was a short dispute in who would be in charge of the little coalition, Tides wound up being the leader since he had far more experience with catching criminals than the Captain of the police force. Knowing that having a large group of officers in one place would be a bad idea, the Lieutenant Commander ordered the majority of the police force to lie in wait until the Savior arrived. If the Savior didn't show up because there were too many officers around, then the objective of his 'personal mission' would end up in failure.

Now that everything was in place for the upcoming confrontation with the Savior. All Tides and the others had to do now was sit back and wait patiently for the cargo ship and the Savior to arrive. It was currently eleven. The cargo ship would be arriving near the island in around ten to twenty minutes give or take the speed of the wind. Having nothing else better to do, the marines chatted amongst themselves and compared notes to what they could make of this mission so far.

"So you two couldn't find any useful information regarding the Savior?" Harper rolled her eyes in disappointment at the two marine recruits. "Perhaps I should have investigated the town more while you two investigated the docks."

Corona obviously wasn't taking too kindly to Harper's snooty remark. "Oh, so you found useful information regarding the Savior?" A small smirk etched onto the young marine's face once she saw Harper turn her head away from her in defeat.

"It doesn't matter whether or not you got useful information." Tides informed his recruits. "After we manage to get our hands on him, we'll get all the information on him that we need."

"Are you sure that we're going to need these though?" Corona indicated to the cutlass sword in her hand. She had only been a marine for a few days now and didn't have much experience in combat other than the one hour combat training the other day. She honestly didn't feel too comfortable holding a real weapon in her hands in such a short amount of time without having proper training.

"The Captain of the police force mentioned that the Savior is an expert martial artist. Having a weapon on you will be the best course of action to defend yourself." Tides assumed.

"Unless he knows karate." Corona muttered under her breath.

"Quit your complaining and prepare yourself." Harper ordered. "We have been given strict orders from Mister Oswald to protect the cargo ship. Regardless if the people consider the Savior a hero or not, we will capture him tonight if he's foolish enough to show himself."

"Lucy? Are you sure that you don't need a sword or a gun?" Corona completely ignored Harper and noticed the chain flail within Lucy's hands.

"I'm fine. I'm more accustomed with this type of weapon." Lucy smiled.

"Here comes the cargo ship." Tides announced as he pointed out to the sea where the cargo ship was slowly approaching the island. Once the ship had reached the island and safely docked, the marines made their way onto the ship and helped move the cargo into the warehouse without any problems.

"Was that the last piece of the cargo?" Harper asked as she watched Corona and Lucy struggle to carry in one large box into the warehouse.

"We think so...hey! How come you aren't helping us?" Corona frowned.

"I'm keeping a vigilant watch on the cargo." Harper replied while checking her nails. "I'll leave the heavy lifting to you since you have those gorilla fingers."

"Gorilla fingers?" Corona prepared to lunge at Harper and wrap her so called 'gorilla fingers' around Harper's tiny little neck until Tides got in between the two to prevent any unnecessary conflict.

"Enough you two; start opening the cargo and see what we're protecting." Tides ordered. Corona and Harper postponed their little cat fight and complied with their superior officer's orders. All of the marines opened the boxes around them and found nothing out of the ordinary. Some of the cargo contained food, books, medicine, and antiques. Everything seemed to be clean until Corona opened up one box that contained a treasure box with a jolly roger on it. Upon finding the mysterious treasure box, she called over her comrades to come and take a look for themselves.

"A treasure box? What's inside?" Lucy asked.

"I don't know, perhaps treasure?" Harper replied sarcastically to which Lucy responded by sticking her tongue out at her.

Corona stared at the treasure box for a moment before she held it up to her ear and shook it around; trying to get a good listen in on what could be inside the treasure box.

"Whoa! Whoa! Stop!" Tides snatched the treasure box away from the female recruit. "Don't just shake a treasure box like that. What if there was a bomb in there?"

"Oops! Sorry!" Corona repeatedly bowed her head to her superior officer once she had realized her mistake. "But it didn't sound like a bomb in there at all."

"What's Mister Oswald doing with a treasure box anyway?" Lucy asked.

"I remember him mentioning that he collects valuable treasure. This must be one of them." Harper replied.

"Let's open it up and see what it is and..." Tides stopped in mid-sentence and focused his attention on the Jolly Roger. The Jolly Roger was a picture of a heart with two daggers stabbed through it. "I've seen this Jolly Roger somewhere before."

"Really? Where?" Corona asked.

"Can't remember at the moment. But I don't like how Mister Oswald is carrying cargo with jolly Rogers on them." Tides frowned.

"We should definitely confront him about this." Harper stated.

"But before that. Let's open up the treasure box and see what's inside." Lucy reached for the box in an attempt to open it. When her hand had gotten too close to it, a volley of shurikens rained down from the ceiling and lodged themselves into the box. All of the marines looked up to the second floor to see the Savior standing there with several more shurikens in his hands.

"So you finally decided to reveal yourself?" Tides eyes narrowed as he stared fixedly on the vigilante dressed in a black cat suit. "I assume that you're the proclaimed Savior?"

"Indeed I am." The Savior said with a deep masculine tone of voice. "You must be the marines that the people of the island were talking about. Have you come to capture me?"

"That depends. Are you truly a hero?" Tides asked.

"I am. I have had it with the crime on this island. I lost someone very dear to me because of it." Savior informed him.

"I'm sorry to hear that. How about you come down here so that we can discuss this down at the police station?" Tides smiled.

"No thanks. I cannot allow myself to be captures by the enemy." Savior shook his head.

"The enemy?" Corona stepped forward. "The marines and the police aren't the enemy. We're here to help."

"That may be the case at first. But then when someone comes along with a large wad of cash, you lose all of your morals and beliefs just so that you can spend a week at an island resort." Savior growled. "If your words are true, then hand over that treasure box. You all have no idea what you're doing by protecting that box."

"Since you seem to know so much about the box, why don't you tell us what's inside?" Lucy asked.

"That's none of your concern. If you wish to be of use to the people of this island, then hand over the box so that I can discard of it properly." Savior said.

"No thanks." Tides shook his head. "This box belongs to Mr. Oswald. It's our mission to protect it. If you attempt to steal this from us, then you will be branded as a criminal."

"You're all the true criminals." Savior jumped down from the second floor and landed safely on the first floor. "Prepare yourselves."

"Looking for a fight now are you?" Harper stood forward in front of her group and took a fencing stance. "So be it then. I shall defeat this foe all by myself."

"I don't think so." Corona and Lucy joined Harper, standing side by side with her; their weapons were raised as they prepared themselves for battle.

"We're going to do this together." Lucy said.

"Whether you like it or not, we're going to help you." Corona said sternly.

"No matter how many of you stand in my way! I will save this island from your evil!" Savior hurled his shurikens towards the three female marines.

Lucy took a step forward and deflected each shuriken into different directions with her chain flail. Since the Savior was now unarmed and considered defenseless, Harper used this as a moment of opportunity for an attack. She rushed for the vigilante and performed several sword thrusts, aiming for neutralizing spots such as his knees and shoulders. Despite being unarmed, Savior proved to be quite agile for he easily managed to evade Harper's blade. Lucy snuck her way around the Savior by hiding behind several cargo boxes inside of the warehouse.

Once she was within the Savior's range, she twirled her chain flail above her head, allowing it to gain some momentum. She then hurled the chain flail at the Savior, aiming for the back of his head to end the battle quickly. Savior quickly whipped around after dodging another one of Harper's attacks and caught the chain flail once it was literally inches away from his face. He stepped aside to avoid being stabbed by Harper's sword and then he wrapped the chain around the sword. He tugged on Lucy's chain as hard as he could and sent the female marine crashing into Harper, disarming both marines in the process.

He chuckled in delight upon watching the both of them crash into a cargo box containing fish which they were soon buried under. Though she was amazed on how one man singlehandedly took down two marines with much effort, Corona sprung into action and challenged the Savior herself. Despite not having much proper training, she was somehow managing to force the Savior back by swinging her sword around wildly. Eventually the vigilante was forced back against a large crate. Corona thrust her sword forward and pierced it through the crate inches away from the Savior's face.

"Enough of this. We're not the enemy here. We're here to help." Corona informed him.

Savior blinked in surprise about Corona's actions but then shook it off and jammed his fist into her stomach. He then jumped up and kicked Corona away from him.

"What the hell was that? Why didn't you just stab him in the shoulder or something?" Harper asked after she had clawed her way out from the pile of fish she was buried under.

"I was trying to convince him that we're on the same side." Corona coughed a small amount of blood while clutching her stomach.

"There's no point in doing so. His target is Oswald. We're working for his target. We're his enemy." Harper pointed out.

"She's right." Savior grabbed the sword lodged into the crate and pulled it out. "As long as you continue to work for that man. You are my enemy."

"Why though? What has Oswald done for you to target him?" Corona asked.

"Isn't it obvious yet? You all saw the Jolly Roger on the treasure box right?" Savior pointed to the treasure box in Tides' hands. "Can you four marines not piece together what is happening here?"

"He's mocking us." Harper clenched her hands into tight fists while gritting her teeth. She was usually the person that mocked people. So being mocked herself made her quiet furious, plus she was being talked down by a criminal. She believed that there was a pecking order in the world and that a criminal was definitely beneath her in that pecking order. Being talked down to by a criminal only added the fuel to the fire which was now burning deep inside of her. She let out a loud war cry as she charged for the vigilante despite being unarmed.

"Stay back!" Savior thrust his sword forward, aiming for Harper's shoulder. The blonde haired marine recruit side stepped the attack and grabbed the vigilante's wrist with her left hand. She then landed a sharp elbow strike against his face in which he flew back and crashed against the wall of the warehouse.

"Impressive." Tides muttered after watching Harper easily disarm the vigilante.

"You have some nerve to attempt to strike me down with my own blade." Harper scowled fiercely at the Savior as he struggled back up to his feet. He shook off the damage he received earlier and lunged for Harper, preparing to face off against her in a sword fight using Corona's sword. The fight did not last long for Harper had easily disarmed him and had both swords within her possession. She took one step forward and thrust her sword forward to slice the left side of the vigilante's cheek.

Savior winced in pain upon being cut and prepared to immediately retaliate until Harper held one of her swords inches away from his neck, preventing him from making any sudden movements at the threat of being killed.

"You're under arrest. Make any sudden movements to continue with this foolish resistance will result in your immediate execution." Harper warned him.

Savior did not heed Harper's warning and performed a back flip, thus landing a swift kick against Harper's chin in the process. He made his way around her and set his sights on Tides. Corona stood in the vigilante's way; but without a weapon in her hand, she was easily cast aside. It was now Lucy's turn to intercept the Savior from his target. She swung the chain flail outward and grinned once it wrapped its way around the vigilante's waist.

She spun around in circles at a fast speed, sending the Savior crashing through several crates. She soon stopped spinning for she figured that the vigilante had enough. This didn't turn out to be the case for the Savior shot up from the ground and tossed a shuriken high into the air. The shuriken cut through the rope that kept a large crate above Lucy's head. Without the rope there to support the crate, gravity took its course in the world and the crate came crashing down onto Lucy, pinning her down to the ground under its weight.

Corona cried out in horror as she rushed over to her comrade and attempted to lift the crate off her. With none of the other recruits standing in his way, Savior made his way over to Tides. He knew that Tides would be tougher to deal with than the others. He didn't want to waste anymore time fighting. He pulled out a flash bang and hurled it towards the Lieutenant Commander. The flash bang exploded and emitted a bright flash of light for a few seconds, forcing Tides to drop the treasure box to shield his eyes.

Savior quickly grabbed the treasure box and made a mad dash for the entrance where he would make his daring escape from the marines, unfortunately his escape route was blocked off by the police force that now had the place surrounded. He made a quick u-turn and ran up the stairs to the second floor where he planned to jump out the window to make his escape. Harper recovered from the cheap shot earlier and chased the Savior up the stairs.

"Harper! Harper! Please help me get this crate off of Lucy!" Corona pleaded for some assistance.

Harper stood in place for a moment and looked between Corona and the Savior. She had a decisive decision to make at the moment. Though it didn't take her long to choose the mission over her comrades. She immediately took off after the Savior who had recently jumped out the window to escape captivity.

"God damn it!" Corona cursed loudly as she continued to try and lift the large cargo off of Lucy. Things seemed to be hopeless for her, she didn't have enough strength to lift something so heavy. Each passing second caused Corona to panic for she thought that she would already lose a friend on her first mission. Tears of sadness and despair trailed down her face as she continued to strain herself to lift up the crate. She didn't know how she was going to do it, but she was going to save Lucy.

"Step aside." Tides walked over to the crate and easily managed to flip it off of Lucy.

"Lucy!' Corona moved over to Lucy and immediately checked her pulse. "Oh thank god. She's alive." She sighed in relief and wiped her tears away after realizing her friend was alive.

"That vigilante was definitely no push over. I'm beginning to wonder if my plan will succeed." Tides sighed while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Your plan?" Corona asked.

"Forgive me Lieutenant Commander. The vigilante somehow managed to escape from me." Harper sighed as she made her way back into the warehouse.

"It's fine. I purposely allowed the Savior to steal the treasure box away from me." Corona and Harper's eyes widened after hearing Tides' blunt statement. "Take Lucy back to the ship. I'll be there in a moment to check on her." Both Corona and Lucy complied with their superior officer's orders and carried Lucy back to the ship while Tides stayed behind.

"I remember where I saw that jolly roger before. Let's see how you react to this Mr. Oswald." Tides frowned before he walked away from the warehouse to meet his subordinates back at the ship.

The next following morning, the marines found themselves inside of Mr. Oswald's office only to be chewed out by their client for their inability to capture the Savior.

"We apologize for the inconvenience." Tides saluted Oswald, only furthering the man's visible anger.

"Inconvenience? Do you realize what kind of treasure was inside of that box?" Oswald yelled.

"That's exactly what we were wondering. What kind of treasure was inside the treasure box?" Corona inquired.

"And why was there a Jolly Roger on it?" Harper added to the question.

"What is this? An interrogation? I'm the client and now the victim here!" Oswald dodged the question.

"Answer the question. What was inside of the treasure box that's got you this worked up?" Tides glared at his client.

"Why are you even questioning me? I told you before that I collect rare and valuable treasures. There was a jolly roger on the treasure box because it obviously belonged to pirates before my friend found it." Oswald sighed before he took a seat in his chair and covered his face with his hands. "But now that the Savior has the treasure box. This island is doomed."

"This island is doomed you say?" Harper stepped forward, unsheathed her sword, and held it inches away from Oswald's neck. "You're going to tell us everything that's going on here or else."

"Seems a little rash there Harper. But yeah, you're going to tell us everything that we want to know." Tides sighed.

"You can't do this! You're supposed to be marines!" Oswald began to panic.

"We are marines. But we don't enjoy being screwed over by our clients. You're hiding something from us and we want to know what it is." Tides scowled fiercely at the cowering Oswald, intimidating him even more.

_"Wow. This is the first time I've ever seen marines act like this. It's so amazing but at the same time so frightening." Corona thought as she watched Harper and Tides threaten and intimidate Oswald._

"Fine! Fine! I'll tell you everything!" Harper then lowered her sword after hearing Oswald's cry. "The treasure box was so important because there's a powerful devil fruit inside of it." An expression of disgust appeared on Harper's face as she backed away from Oswald.

"A devil fruit?" Corona looked over to Tides with a confused expression on her face. This was her first time ever hearing of devil fruits. "What's a devil fruit?"

"It's a mystical fruit in this world that can give any eater many different and varying kinds of strange and interesting powers. Like the power to breath fire or summon tsunami's." Tides explained.

"Whoa! There are fruits in this world that actually allows that? How come I've never heard of them until now?" Corona gasped in shock.

"Because devil fruits are actually rarely seen or even heard of in the Four Blues. You'll see a lot of them in the Grand Line and New World." Tides replied before he turned to face Oswald.

"How disgusting. If I had known that we were guarding a devil fruit, I would have handed it over to the vigilante in an instant." Harper frowned.

"Speaking of the vigilante. What are you going to do about him? Do you understand what he could do to this island if he were to eat it?" Oswald asked.

"Relax. We're actually about to find the Savior right now." Tides said as he pulled out a den den mushi. "I placed a tracker inside of the keyhole of the treasure box before I allowed the Savior to steal it from me. This den den mushi will lead us straight to the treasure box and the vigilante." He said as he handed it over to Corona.

"You allowed the Savior to steal the-" Oswald stopped in mid-sentence once he heard a loud crash coming from his son's room. He shot up from his chair and was prepared to go check on the noise until Tides forced him back into his seat.

"Stay right there and don't you dare think about moving! I still have some questions that I want to ask you!" Tides said before he faced Corona and Harper and ordered them to check out the noise.

Corona and Harper rushed over to Richard's room and burst through the door to see Richard lying face down on the ground covered in blood. Corona immediately rushed over to the young boy and turned him over onto his back to check his pulse. Harper on the other hand rushed over to the open window and stared outside to see Sebastian, the butler, running out from the mansion with the treasure box in his hands.

"Harper! Help me tend to Richard's wounds! These are looking pretty serious!" Corona looked over to the empty space where Harper had been standing seconds ago. She got up and looked out the window to see Harper chasing after Sebastian. "God damn it! She did it again!" She rushed over back to Richard to tend to his wounds.

"Don't...don't worry about...me..." Richard struggled to sit up. "That's...that's not Sebastian...you have...to stop him..." He clenched his teeth in pain once he placed his hand over the slash wounds on his torso, the blood seeped through the cracks in his fingers.

"We will Richard. But first I need to get you to Tides so that he can fix you up and-" Corona stopped in mid-sentence once Richard pushed her aside.

"Go! I'll be fine! Go after the fake Sebastian!" Richard yelled before he went into a coughing fit. Though she hesitated to leave at first, Corona eventually left Richard alone and rushed out of the mansion to chase down after Harper.

Meanwhile back inside of Oswald's office, Oswald was being pressed against the wall by Tides, trembling in fear that the marine was eventually going to do something that he was going to regret.

"Do you realize the danger that you've put three marine recruits through today? Why the hell have you been working for that pirate? Do you understand the dangers of working for a man like him?" Tides yelled.

"Not completely! But he promised this island protection as long as I kept his cargo safe for him! Now that the Savior has the treasure box! He'll surely come to this island and retaliate!" Oswald whimpered.

"God damn it." Tides released his hold on Oswald and pulled out another den den mushi from his pocket.

"What are you doing?" Oswald asked.

"I'm calling in for back up. This mission has now become too dangerous for three mere recruits to handle." Tides frowned.

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**That's the end of the chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it! Now it's time for the preview for the next chapter!**

**Next time on One Piece: The Fight For Justice!**

**Triple Threat!**

**Corona: You're not going anywhere with that treasure box!**

**Harper: What did I tell you about getting in my way?**

**Lucy: We have to work together to defeat this guy!**

**?: Foolish recruits! Don't you understand that I cannot be captured?**

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**Please Review and Enjoy!**


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